September 1, 2017
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Produce
manager
joins IPC
retail team
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
EAGLE, Idaho — As a
produce manager with Marsh
Supermarkets, Dave Rhodes
found it paid to make time for
his Idaho Potato Commission
sales representative.
“I felt
that there
was always
some type
of value he
brought to
the
table
every time
he
came
in,”
said
Dave Rhodes
Rhodes,
who learned market trends,
competitors’ strategies and
tips for growing the fresh
potato category from the IPC
official.
Now Rhodes, 57, will be
the one delivering informa-
tion to help produce managers
move more Idaho spuds.
In mid-August, Rhodes
joined the Idaho Potato Com-
mission as its retail promotion
director for the Northeast,
based in Indianapolis. He’s re-
placing Ken Tubman, who is
retiring after a 15-year career
with IPC.
He has more than 40 years
of experience in the produce
industry, tracing back to 1977
when he joined Marsh as a
service clerk.
“I think I have that side of
knowledge, being on the re-
tail side for so many years,”
Rhodes said. “I always val-
ued the guys more who had
worked retail and could com-
municate with me on that
same level.”
Rhodes said he also fa-
vored the Idaho potato brand,
which his store considered to
be a higher-quality product
than regionally grown spuds
and priced at a premium.
Rhodes spent a year in col-
lege before joining the Marine
Corps and completing a four-
year tour.
He then returned to Marsh,
becoming a produce manager
before leaving to join a Mich-
igan supermarket chain. He
was recruited back to Marsh
in 1999, and was ultimately
promoted to vice president
of produce and floral for the
chain in 2007.
Marsh had 120 locations in
Indiana and Ohio at its peak
but has sold or closed all of its
stores.
In his new role with IPC,
Rhodes will be the “eyes and
ears of the Idaho shippers,”
explained Seth Pemsler, IPC’s
vice president of retail and
international programs. In
addition to providing market
insight to shippers, Pemsler’s
three retail team members
meet with every major retailer
about twice per year.
“They travel three out of
four weeks per month visiting
customers, or attending re-
gional trade shows,” Pemsler
said.
Last year, Pemsler said the
potato commission signifi-
cantly increased the volume
of data it purchases to high-
light market trends for gro-
cers.
“We’re figuring out what
sorts of reports to bring in,”
Pemsler said. “We’ll have
data availability for many
more customers and many
more markets than in the
past.”
Based on the team’s ef-
forts, Pemsler said more
retailers are running adver-
tising singling out Idaho po-
tatoes, and the Idaho Potato
Lovers Month promotion has
grown to include more than
5,000 participating stores.
Rhodes and his wife,
Angela, have been married
for 33 years and have two
grown children, Megan and
Kyle.
In his free time, Rhodes
serves on the football coach-
ing staff at Warren Central
High School in Indianapolis,
which has the nation’s 19th
ranked team. He also coach-
es a youth traveling football
team.
CapitalPress.com
9
Idaho
Agriculture’s importance growing
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A University of
Idaho report shows that farm-
ing’s contribution to Idaho’s
overall economy is continu-
ing to grow.
Not too many years ago,
with the high-tech manu-
facturing sector booming in
Idaho, some people assumed
agriculture was a dinosaur
whose importance was on the
wane, said UI Agricultural
Economist Garth Taylor.
“That just simply has not
been true,” Taylor said. “Ag-
riculture is big and we’re
growing; we’re not declin-
ing.”
That is backed up by the
UI report, “Economic Con-
tribution of Idaho Agribusi-
ness.”
The report, based on 2014
data, is an update of a pre-
vious report based on 2012
data. The latest version shows
that agriculture directly and
indirectly is responsible for
16 percent of the state’s to-
tal Gross Domestic Product.
That’s up from 14 percent in
the previous report.
“Agriculture is still a pow-
erhouse in the state’s econo-
Sean Ellis/Capital Press File
Hay is cut in a field near Kuna, Idaho, on June 27. A University
of Idaho report shows that agriculture’s contribution to the state
economy is continuing to grow.
my despite the weakening ag
economy in the United States
overall,” Taylor said.
Taylor said it’s no surprise
that agriculture is big in Ida-
ho; everybody knows that.
But a deeper dig into the data
shows a not-so-well-known
story.
GDP from production
agriculture has grown twice
as fast as the state’s over-
all GDP since 1997 while
the food processing sector’s
percentage of state GDP has
increased slightly during that
time.
The report was authored
by Philip Watson, an associ-
ate professor in UI’s Depart-
ment of Agricultural Eco-
nomics and Rural Sociology.
It is based on several sources,
including data from USDA
and the U.S. Bureau of Eco-
nomic Analysis.
It shows that Idaho ag-
riculture was responsible
for $27.8 billion in sales in
2014, up from $25.1 billion
in 2012, as well as 128,200
jobs, up from 124,000.
“That’s certainly a sizable
amount of Idaho’s economy,”
Watson said.
Watson said that before
the recent recession, many
people assumed high-tech
manufacturing would re-
place agriculture as the most
important part of the state’s
economy.
“That hasn’t materialized
yet,” he said, adding that ag-
riculture has strengthened its
hold on that top spot since
the recession. “Tech manu-
facturing took a hit during
the recession and agriculture
didn’t. It hasn’t been boom-
ing like agriculture has.”
UI Agricultural Econ-
omist Ben Eborn said that
while the latest report is great
news, it should be noted that
2014 was a record year for
Idaho agriculture in terms of
total farm cash receipts.
Still, he added, agricul-
ture’s importance to the
state’s economy should re-
main large in the next report,
which will be based on 2016
data.
“It’s not going to change
much,” Eborn said. “Agri-
culture is still going to be a
major, major factor in our
economy.”
The report also shows that
agriculture is much more im-
portant to Idaho’s economy
than it is to the economies of
surrounding states, even ru-
ral, ag-driven ones.
Agriculture’s share of
Idaho’s economy is 10.5
times greater than in Neva-
da, 4.75 times greater than
in Wyoming, four times
greater than in Utah, 3.75
times greater than in Wash-
ington, three times greater
than in Oregon and 1.75
times greater than in Mon-
tana.
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