The U.S. potato industry likes to describe its product as "America's favorite vegetable." But the industry faces major challenges in maintaining that popularity, as well as great opportunities to increase foreign sales and consumption of spuds.
The Denver-based board, which represents more than 2,500 potato growers and handlers across the country and promotes spud consumption both domestically and internationally, is holding its summer meeting in Grand Forks this week. The summer meeting typically is held near the home of the chairman; Larimore is about 30 miles west of Grand Forks.
About 40 industry leaders from all the major potato-producing states are attending. The four-day event ends Thursday with a tour of the area's potato industry. Many of the key committee meetings were held Wednesday.
The biggest immediate concern is export sales lost because of a lengthy, now-resolved strike at 29 West Coast ports. With U.S. spuds unavailable, some foreign customers switched to potatoes from the European Union and other exporters.
That led to a 6 percent decline in U.S.exports, or a loss of about $35 million, said John Toaspern, chief marketing officer of the U.S. Potato Board. That's even more troubling because U.S. potato exports had been growing by 18 percent annually and were expected to continue rising.
The port strike isn't the only concern. The U.S. dollar has been rising against most foreign currencies, making American potatoes more expensive for overseas buyers. And some competing exporters, such as the European Union, had good crops, increasing the amount of available spuds worldwide.
Long-term U.S. export prospects remain bright, with the opportunities greatest to sell fries in Southeast Asia, Toaspern says.
