CPAC looking at multiple research projects, trade agreements
CPAC looking at multiple research projects, trade agreements
With a full plate of varietal data, trade negotiations and market studies, Jim Ehrlich, executive director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, said on Nov. 16, “I’ve been doing a lot of research stuff today.”
Ehrlich said this is the time of year he and growers are able to meet more frequently one-on-one as well as in group settings, and he said a recent research committee meeting had members looking at priorities for the upcoming year.
Conditions this past growing season in Colorado’s San Luis Valley were favorable for a good crop, and shippers are reporting just that. Spuds coming out of storage are said to be very good to excellent quality, and supplies are good for both retail and foodservice.
“Our CSU Research Station new farm manager, Tyler Thompson, has ideas for improvements and projects, and we’re working closely with him,” Ehrlich said. He added that he had also been looking through 36 individual proposals to the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service sent in by researchers from across the country.
Addressing trade issues, the director said he, along with the National Potato Council, looks favorably on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that he said “offers good opportunity for potato exports.” Ehrlich said, “Trade is obviously very important, and it’s a world market these days.”
He also said, “We want to do what we can to make the agreement realistically fair.”
The agreement with Mexico, which is stuck at the 26-kilometer buffer reinstated in June 2014 after a very brief opening of the Mexican interior, is status quo. Ehrlich said John Keeling, executive vice president and chief executive officer of the NPC, traveled to Mexico recently for further talks.
“Here at CPAC we just finished up with our yearly review of our block grant program, and one project we see as having been very beneficial was the market research we had done in Mexico,” Ehrlich continued. “Our researcher, Nora Gonzales, has done a very good job.” He said if that market does fully open up, Colorado will be ahead with solid information on retail support and consumer education.
“It was well worth the time and expense,” Ehrlich said.
