Potato groups join forces; PGI merges into IPC

By Scott Kraus, Ag Weekly correspondent
Thursday, July 19, 2007 5:43 PM CDT

Keith Esplin, executive director of the Potato Growers of Idaho, speaks to PGI members July 16 in Idaho Falls on merging most of the Blackfoot-based grower group's functions into the Idaho Potato Commission, which is a state agency in Eagle. PGI members approved the merger. Photo by Scott Kraus

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho n The Potato Growers of Idaho’s decision on July 16 to merge most of the grower group’s functions into the Idaho Potato Commission was difficult, a member said.

Stan Searle, who grows potatoes near Shelley, said a lot of producers have lived and breathed PGI over its 45-year history.

“Just to turn around and say ‘hey, it’s gone,’” Searle said, “it hurts.”

But the desire to continue services while also eliminating a membership fee also holds appeal, he said.

So ultimately, PGI members who fund the voluntary group approved the move in a near-unanimous voice vote at Idaho Falls.

PGI, which is based in Blackfoot, started in 1962 to bargain for growers contracting with french fry processors, said Executive Director Keith Esplin. But that role was taken over by the Southern Idaho Potato Cooperative in 1998. Since then, PGI has focused on political lobbying, tracking grower issues and education.

Merging those functions into the Potato Commission n a state agency that taxes all growers, shippers and processors to fund promotion efforts n will streamline groups and reduce grower fees, he said. Also, as farmer numbers drop, it’s more difficult to find enough people to serve in organizations.

“We felt like there needed to be a consolidation that made sense,” Esplin said.

The change will eliminate a fee of 1.5 cents per hundredweight of potatoes, up to a cap of $2,500 per grower, for PGI members.

But the Potato Commission is looking to hike its tax by 2.5 cents per hundredweight to a total of 12.5 cents per hundredweight, said Frank Muir, president and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission.

Sixty percent of the tax is paid by the growers and the other 40 percent by the subsequent shippers or processors.

The commission’s board is slated to vote on the issue Wednesday. The change would raise about another $2.5 million per year. Much of the money would go to boost TV advertising, which raised consumption of spuds in a test last year. And some of the money would help absorb the PGI functions, Muir said.

To handle PGI duties, the Eagle-based commission will form three grower committees: agricultural affairs, trade and marketing, and research and education.

The agricultural affairs committee would handle many of the education and issue functions now done by PGI, Muir said. These would include environmental, legislative, regulatory and immigration issues.

The trade and marketing committee would handle food safety and export matters, among others.

And the research and education panel would review allocations of research funds. It would also work with the Potato Variety Management Institute. That is the former tri-state program for Idaho, Oregon and Washington to cooperate in developing new spud varieties.

“We feel this is the best way to accommodate their needs and hopefully help the industry speak with one voice,” Muir said.

The Potato Commission will also hire what it calls an industry relations director. The director will help coordinate the committees and carry out issue-education functions formerly done by PGI.

The commission has already begun advertising the position, Muir said. The person will be based in an office in eastern Idaho, he said. It aims to fill that post by Sept. 1.

The arrangements have eased concerns for Wyatt Penfold, a PGI member who farms potatoes in the Driggs area. He worried farmers’ voices would get lost if PGI merged into a state agency. +But the way PGI will be absorbed into the commission looks like it will work, he said.

“It was well-enough put together, and there wasn’t really much other direction we could go,” Penfold said.

But PGI still needs to figure how to handle more direct lobbying issues, Penfold said. It has a political action committee that donates money to state candidates. And the Potato Commission, as a state agency, can’t get involved in directly funding candidates and hiring lobbyists, he said. It can only communicate its positions to legislators.

“There’s a few issues the commission can’t handle that we need to figure out,” Penfold said.

So PGI has appointed a transition committee to decide those issues, he said. One possibility is to keep PGI going just to run the PAC. Or the lobbying and PAC functions could get absorbed into another existing farm organization.

Meanwhile, PGI will continue operating until probably the end of its fiscal year on Aug. 31, Esplin said. Then the move would eliminate its three positions n executive director, communications director and office manager.

Esplin has a long history with PGI. The former potato grower has been involved with the organization since about 1980. He was president for two and a half years and has been executive director for six years.

“It is hard, but at the same time we recognize times change,” he said.

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