Welcome to the Potato Growers Association - West

The Potato Growers Association - West was organized in 1961 by growers from the Idaho Falls and Rexburg area. We now have about 640 grower members farming around 410,000 acres of potatoes. Most of them are in southern Idaho but we have members in the Columbia Basin, the Klamath Basin, Montana, Utah, the San Luis Valley in Colorado and western Nebraska too. There are also about 90 associate members, mostly shippers, seed and fertilizer dealers and ag lenders.

We are a non-profit association run by a grower board of directors from our 6 districts. Members get The Spud Line every month and the PGAW price survey by fax every Monday September thru May. The main office is in Blackfoot and we also have a field office in Othello for the Columbia Basin.

Coming Up

• Nov. 16 - Board meeting, 9:00 a.m. at the PGAW office in Blackfoot. Open to members.
• Dec. 1 - 2005 dues notices mailed. Dues went up $25 in most categories, the first increase since 1999. See Membership for the new amounts.
• Dec. 7 - Storage management workshop, Grant County Fairgrounds (4-H building), Moses Lake, 8:30 to noon. Free for members, $20 non-members. 2 Washington pesticide credits applied for.
• Feb. 15-17 - 44th Annual Meeting and Trade Show, Shilo Inn, Idaho Falls. About 70 of the 96 booths are sold. Annual meeting info

News

10/28/04 - Digging is about done for the year. The Basin was finished the first week of October and the Magic Valley and the Blackfoot and Aberdeen area by about the 15th. The rain the week of the 18th held up some fields around Rexburg and St. Anthony and there are still a few of those left to dig.

10/27/04 - We have had calls from several growers in the Upper Valley about pink rot and some pythium showing up in storage, mostly in potatoes that were dug wet the week of the 18th. If you have any of those in a cellar CHECK THEM NOW!! Keep plenty of air on them and dont wait to see if it gets better. Mark Ochoa will go over storage rots at the workshop in Moses Lake on Dec. 7.

10/25/04 - Prices are still poor. Idaho Burbank 70s were $7.00-8.00 this week f.o.b., 90s $6.50-7.50, Norkotah 70s $6.00-6.50 and Basin Norkotah 70s about $5.50-6.50. There is still no word on 2005 processing contracts. The whole price survey is on the Markets page.

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