Bend News

New Breed Could Generate Much Love For The Spud

Slide Over Idaho, Central Oregon Looks To Revamp Potato Industry

By Joseph Friedrichs, 2-05-07

The first place that comes to mind when someone asks where most of the country’s potatoes are grown is Idaho. And although Idaho is the birthing grounds for many a fine spud, a new type of potato being grown near Bend could revamp the industry and make Central Oregon the new potato capital.

Central Oregonians and others throughout the U.S. could see a cutting-edge potato, known as the Premier Russet, on store shelves by 2008. The purple-colored Premier will apparently have better taste, storage capability, greater yield and more disease-resistant qualities than the standard Russet. Think of it as the Peyton Manning of potatoes.

Although new varieties are the direction of the potato industry, they still involve risk for growers, Ed Macy, the co-owner of Culver-based Macy Farms LLC, recently told Jeff McDonald of the Associated Press.

Macy Farms has already invested several thousand dollars into growing Premier Russet potatoes, but still has no guarantee that processors will buy the final product when it comes out of the ground, according to the AP.

The potato industry has suffered in recent years because it has not shifted to meet consumers’ changing demands, Jeanne Debons told the AP. Debons is the director of the Bend-based Potato Variety Management Institute, a grower-controlled company that deals with licensing and royalty collection on potatoes grown in Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

According to Debons, rising land and production costs, weak prices amid increased competition and less demand around the country for potatoes have contributed to harder times for growers. It’s not exactly on the same scale as Irish Potato Famine from the 1840s, but these changes in the business have sent growers searching for better a better product, such as the Premier.

“Thirty years ago an apple was an apple,” Debons said, as reported by McDonald. “But the industry adapted to demand for more varieties and eventually grew different types of apples. Potato growers could develop niches for different varieties, increase their yields and eventually increase their bottom line.”

Despite the potential for potato trend setting near Bend, Central Oregon potato production has decreased from more than 15,000 acres in the 1960s to between roughly 600 to 700 acres planted for 2007, according to Jim Carlson, a Culver farmer and chairman of the Oregon Potato Commission.

In 2003, potatoes posted the same price they did 50 years ago - about 3 cents per pound. However, the prices jumped last year to between 9 cents and 11 cents per pound for Central Oregon’s potato seed farmers.

Only 20 percent of Central Oregon’s potato farmers sell commercial potatoes ready for consumption, Carlson said. The rest produce the seed that comes from the eye of the potato, which they sell to commercial growers to replant, cultivate and harvest for sale to one of three processing companies in the Northwest.

Processing companies then convert the potatoes into French fries or hash browns and sell them to companies such as McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s.

Federal funding also will determine the future of American-grown spuds, said Bill Brewer, executive director of the Oregon Potato Commission. Each year, the federal government earmarks $586,000 for the tri-state program, Brewer said, but the funding is not guaranteed year to year.

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