12/24/08 41st annual Potato Conference

Efficiency, sustainability and profitability will be the focus of the 41st annual Potato Conference next month in Pocatello. University of Idaho's Nora Olsen is the conference chair and she says the volatile world economic situation will get a lot of attention on January 21st and 22nd. OLSEN "What does that actually do to the potato industry? How does that affect marketing and prices and the potato growers themselves? Prices of fuel costs, fertilizer, some of these other inputs that are now getting quite high for us." The National Potato Council CEO John Keeling will be the keynote speaker at the sustainability symposium at Idaho State University. Olsen says in addition to the normal issues that are always on the conference agenda they're going to talk about food safety issues and weed management. OLSEN "There's been a huge concern obviously in the Magic Valley about manure management in potato rotations, planting performance, economics of fertilizer use, things like that we can all kind of use to our advantage next year, next season." Seminars on market changes, cooperatives, exports, early planting risks and nematode management are part of the conference and so to are the workshops on bed planting under sprinkler irrigation, new variety production, long-term impacts on short rotations, field burning and organic production. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott