U of I planning symposium for fresh potato industry

By John O’Connell

University of Idaho

TWIN FALLS – Registration is now open for University of Idaho Extension’s inaugural Fresh Pack Potato Symposium, which will bring together professionals from across the country who work in the fresh potato industry.  

UI Extension received a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to launch the symposium, scheduled for Nov. 17-18 at Canyon Crest Event Center, 330 Canyon Crest Drive in Twin Falls.  

The symposium will address challenges facing the fresh market, which is often overlooked at research-oriented industry meetings.

Most events focus on spuds that are raised to be processed into frozen products, which represent a much larger market segment. Fresh table stock potatoes, however, accounted for an estimated 23% of sales in the $4.8 billion U.S. potato market, according to USDA data for the 2023 crop year.  

Organizers hope to draw up to 150 industry professionals and expert presenters from the nation’s major fresh potato production regions.   

Participants will attend presentations on the conference’s first day and will have the opportunity to tour area fresh-pack potato facilities on the second morning.  

The USDA conference grant will fund the symposium for a single year, but organizers hope to make it a recurring event. Gustavo Teixeira, an associate professor and potato postharvest physiologist who holds the Wayne and Peggy Thiessen Potato Research Professorship Endowment, is the grant’s principal investigator.

The event’s organizing committee also includes Nora Olsen, a U of I professor and specialist in potatoes and horticulture, and Jonathan Whitworth, a research plant pathologist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Aberdeen.  

“The main focus of most potato conferences is on processing, and fresh packing is a little different,” Teixeira said. “Fresh potato operators can store potatoes at a lower temperature, and they have different packaging needs. Transportation is another challenge. They export potatoes in containers, and a lot can happen when you put potatoes in a container for 35 days and send them overseas.”  

New environmental regulations affecting the chemicals that may be used in refrigeration equipment for cooling potato storages will be one of the discussion topics. Other significant topics will include the maximum pesticide residue limits on fresh potatoes accepted by export markets and pressing pest and disease concerns.  

Teixeira said U of I researchers also plan to discuss their contributions to a multistate potato breeding program to develop potatoes resistant to diseases such as potato virus Y. They will also discuss their work on a federally funded program to eradicate a quarantined pest known as pale cyst nematode.