Voigt gives potato progress report at Washington State Potato Conference

Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, addressed a group of roughly 120 growers at the Washington State Potato Conference in Kennewick Tuesday, where he provided an update on key issues for the potato industry.

One of the topics he addresses was the reopening of the American border  for Canadian seed potatoes. This is important because Washington state receives about 20 percent of its potato seed from Canada.

Voigt also talked about the work the commission does, including research, trade and market access, public and industry education, legislative and regulatory, covering 111 agenda items in prior commission committee meetings and spending time in Washington, D.C. and Olympia.

He also addressed the U.S. Environmental Association’s required reregistration of the soil fumigant metham sodium.

Voigt also provided an update about water availability in the Odessa subarea. He said the commission secured $10 million from the state and $2 million from the federal government to build the Potholes Supplemental Feed Route.

The feed route is an alternate method of delivering water to the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District by using an outlet structure to spill water into Crab Creek, then Moses Lake and onto the Potholes Reservoir, he said.

A recent Ground Water Management Area study shows deep wells are pumping old water between 10,000 to 50,000 years old, he said.

There’s no new groundwater and at some point, the deep wells will go dry, he said.