Idaho Potato Commission celebrates 70th anniversary
Idaho Potato Commission celebrates 70th anniversary
The Idaho Potato Commission is marking its 70th anniversary this year. Formed in May 1937 and originally (and only briefly) known as the Idaho Fruit & Vegetable Advertising Commission, the IPC has been actively promoting Idaho potatoes since its inception.
It was "the first organization formed in Idaho to promote any type of produce" and "one of the earliest commodity organizations" formed in the United States, said Frank Muir, the commission's president.
In honor of IPC's 70-year milestone, the U.S. House of Representatives "named the month of May Idaho Potato Month, and President Bush sent us a letter that he had signed congratulating us and recognizing Idaho potatoes as one of the most well-known produce products in the country and around the world," Mr. Muir said.
As part of its 70th anniversary observances, Mr. Muir said, the commission has developed a booklet containing 70 tips for using Idaho potatoes. The tips are a combination of some simple recipes and "some unique ways to use Idaho potatoes that you wouldn't commonly think of" such as using potatoes to remove the tarnish from copper." The booklet contains "a unique range of ideas ... that are pretty creative."
He continued, "Even before branding and advertising were popular, the commission knew the Idaho potato was a unique and important part of the Idaho economy. Over the years, through creative and strategic marketing, we have been able to establish the Idaho potato as one of the most recognized brand names in this country and as a favorite potato around the world."
The Produce News overheard a spontaneous testimonial to that effect, from 3,000 miles away, while interviewing Mr. Muir via cell phone on the evening of Sept. 14. Mr. Muir and Seth Pemsler, IPC's vice president of retail, were in South Carolina at the time, en route to a U.S. Potato Board meeting. The GPS in the car they were driving had given them wrong directions, taking them down a remote country road and telling them to turn on a road that did not exist. They pulled over to ask directions of one of the locals, who said, "Everybody - even MapQuest - shows a road there where there is none." When Mr. Muir, who was on the passenger side, mentioned that they were from Idaho and on their way to a potato meeting, the man responded with an instant and enthusiastic exclamation of recognition. "Oh, Idaho potatoes!"
Potatoes have been grown in Idaho since around 1836, when a Presbyterian missionary named Henry Harmon Spalding began planting them to show local Nez Perce Indians how to grow their own food rather than rely on hunting and gathering.
The first substantial potato fields in Idaho were planted by Mormon pioneers during the second half of the 19th century. They began growing potatoes along the river valleys in southern Idaho not only for their own use but also as a cash crop.
"As early as 1875, the Mormons were shipping potatoes to California," according to a historical overview on the IPC web site (idahopotatoes.com). "From this small beginning, Idaho's farmers set out on the conquest of the potato markets of the United States." By 1890, Idaho potatoes were already becoming "well known in produce circles" throughout the country.
The historical account on the IPC web site notes that the Russet Burbank potato, for which Idaho is best known, was a chance sport originating from a smooth-skinned long white potato originally developed in 1872 by Luther Burbank, a New Englander.
Mr. Burbank took his potatoes west, and by 1906, more than 6 million bushels of the white Burbank were being produced in California, Oregon and Washington. But it was a mutant variety of the white Burbank selected by Lon Sweet in Denver that would become the netted, brown-skinned Russet Burbank variety that has thrived and prospered in the rich volcanic-ash soils of southern Idaho.
(For more on Idaho potatoes, see the Oct. 1 issue of The Produce News.)
It was "the first organization formed in Idaho to promote any type of produce" and "one of the earliest commodity organizations" formed in the United States, said Frank Muir, the commission's president.
In honor of IPC's 70-year milestone, the U.S. House of Representatives "named the month of May Idaho Potato Month, and President Bush sent us a letter that he had signed congratulating us and recognizing Idaho potatoes as one of the most well-known produce products in the country and around the world," Mr. Muir said.
As part of its 70th anniversary observances, Mr. Muir said, the commission has developed a booklet containing 70 tips for using Idaho potatoes. The tips are a combination of some simple recipes and "some unique ways to use Idaho potatoes that you wouldn't commonly think of" such as using potatoes to remove the tarnish from copper." The booklet contains "a unique range of ideas ... that are pretty creative."
He continued, "Even before branding and advertising were popular, the commission knew the Idaho potato was a unique and important part of the Idaho economy. Over the years, through creative and strategic marketing, we have been able to establish the Idaho potato as one of the most recognized brand names in this country and as a favorite potato around the world."
The Produce News overheard a spontaneous testimonial to that effect, from 3,000 miles away, while interviewing Mr. Muir via cell phone on the evening of Sept. 14. Mr. Muir and Seth Pemsler, IPC's vice president of retail, were in South Carolina at the time, en route to a U.S. Potato Board meeting. The GPS in the car they were driving had given them wrong directions, taking them down a remote country road and telling them to turn on a road that did not exist. They pulled over to ask directions of one of the locals, who said, "Everybody - even MapQuest - shows a road there where there is none." When Mr. Muir, who was on the passenger side, mentioned that they were from Idaho and on their way to a potato meeting, the man responded with an instant and enthusiastic exclamation of recognition. "Oh, Idaho potatoes!"
Potatoes have been grown in Idaho since around 1836, when a Presbyterian missionary named Henry Harmon Spalding began planting them to show local Nez Perce Indians how to grow their own food rather than rely on hunting and gathering.
The first substantial potato fields in Idaho were planted by Mormon pioneers during the second half of the 19th century. They began growing potatoes along the river valleys in southern Idaho not only for their own use but also as a cash crop.
"As early as 1875, the Mormons were shipping potatoes to California," according to a historical overview on the IPC web site (idahopotatoes.com). "From this small beginning, Idaho's farmers set out on the conquest of the potato markets of the United States." By 1890, Idaho potatoes were already becoming "well known in produce circles" throughout the country.
The historical account on the IPC web site notes that the Russet Burbank potato, for which Idaho is best known, was a chance sport originating from a smooth-skinned long white potato originally developed in 1872 by Luther Burbank, a New Englander.
Mr. Burbank took his potatoes west, and by 1906, more than 6 million bushels of the white Burbank were being produced in California, Oregon and Washington. But it was a mutant variety of the white Burbank selected by Lon Sweet in Denver that would become the netted, brown-skinned Russet Burbank variety that has thrived and prospered in the rich volcanic-ash soils of southern Idaho.
(For more on Idaho potatoes, see the Oct. 1 issue of The Produce News.)
