Idaho Potato Commission discusses research priorities

The Idaho Potato Commission is considering retargeting the research dollars it provides the University of Idaho to ensure potato growers get the most bang for their buck.

That could affect University of Idaho agricultural researchers' efforts on potatoes and a variety of Idaho crops.

Idaho Potato Council President and CEO Frank Muir said the commission isn't talking about reducing the amount of money it gives the university.

"It's not a matter of overall funding,"he said. "It's, are we spending that money on the right things to ensure we get the best return on our investment for the industry?"

With a top University of Idaho research official present, IPC commissioners recently had a frank discussion about the hundreds of thousands of dollars they give the university each year for various research projects.

State funding for University of Idaho's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences has been reduced by more than 20 percent over the past two years. Federal funding has mostly held steady but is losing ground because of inflation, said Mike Thornton, superintendent of University of Idaho's Parma Research and Extension Center and the university's liaison to the potato commission.

Idaho Potato Commission board members are concerned their research dollars are increasingly being used to cover costs, including technical help, phone bills and fertilizer, that used to be borne by state dollars.
 

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The Idaho Potato Commission website lists the following projects as approved for FY2012 [Unclear if this is from before or after the revision described in the Capital Press article, to be confirmed]:

University of Idaho On Going Projects

• Molecular and Biochemical Characterization  (Gupta)
• Storability &Nutrition of Current Potatoes (Acrylamide project) (Gupta)
• Storage Requirements for New Cultivars (Gupta)
• Nematode Management (Hafez)
• Hairy Nightshade and PVY Incidence in Potato Fields (Hutchinson)
• Managing PVY in Idaho &Survey of PVY strain types in Idaho (Hutchinson/Karasev)
• Survey of PVY strains in Idaho (New last year) (Karasev)
• Production of Virus Free Potato Lines (Karasev)
• Treasure Valley Pest Alert Network (Neufeld)
• Idaho One Plan, Pesticide Applicator Reporting (Neufeld)
• Seed Potato Quality Improvement (Nolte)
• Extension Potato Specialists (Nolte/Olsen)
• Methods of Sprout and Disease Suppression (Olsen)
• Cost of Potato Production (Patterson)
• Breeding for Quality, Disease Resistance, Yield (Stark)
• Development of traits for Specialty Seed Varieties (Thornton)
• Improving Appearance of Specialty Potatoes (Thornton)
• An Approach to managing Important Potato Diseases in ID: Pythium/Early Blight (Wharton)
• Investigate best field and storage practices for control of black dot (Wharton)

Non University of Idaho Projects

• Acreage Counting (United Potato growers)
• Phosphorus crop Removal  (IACI)
• PM 2.5 Emmissions: Odor Control Systems (IACI)
• Increasing sustainability and improving control for potato diseases (Miller Research LLC)

New Projects

• New strategies to control root-knot &root-lesion nematodes in potatoes (Elling)
• Computer Modeling of Packinghouse Wasterwater Inflitration (Eric Miller)
• Potato Growth Response to High Copper Soils (Moore)
• Surveillance for PVY strain types in WA &OR potato seed lot trials (Karasev)
• Improved tolerance to drought, salinity &disease (Kuhl)
• Field and storage management approaches to reduce silver infection  (Olsen)
• Investigate best field &storage management for Fusarium dry rot control (Olsen)
• Detection of soil borne pathogens from soil and potato tubers (Wharton)
• Glyphosate Carryover in Potato Seed (Hutchinson)
• Tetonia Research Station Funding (IPC)
• National Processing Potato Variety Development (IPC)

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