Focusing
on breast
cancer AWARENESS,
awareness, EDUCATION
education and
throughout
October
FOCUSING
ON BREAST
CANCER
AND prevention
PREVENTION
THROUGHOUT
OCTOBER
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018
VOLUME 91, NUMBER 43
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
I daho P otatoes
IT’S ABOUT THE BRAND
Commission CEO bullish
on state’s most famous crop
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
W
hen is a potato more than
just a potato? When it’s an
Idaho potato.
Just ask Frank Muir,
president and CEO of the
Idaho Potato Commission for the past 15
years. As the commission’s top executive,
his job is to convince consumers from Sa-
vannah, Ga., to Seattle, Wash., and beyond
that the Idaho potato is special.
“Were these potatoes grown in Idaho?
That is what we want people to ask,” he
said.
When Muir tells you potatoes are worth
getting excited about, it’s based on the 37
years he’s spent helping to turn around
some of the country’s best-known brands.
Higher profile
Frank Muir
Idaho grows excellent potatoes for
reasons that include warm days and cool
nights; volcanic, mineral-rich soil; and
mountain-fed streams that tumble into a
sophisticated reservoir system, Muir
said. “Our marketing that makes
a mystical place of Idaho, across
the world, for growing
potatoes.”
Many Idaho po-
tatoes also contain
a higher percent-
age of solids, which
can be advantageous
for processing, he said.
The Idaho potato’s higher profile during
the past 15 years has contributed to an 80
percent jump in farm-gate revenue over the
period, thanks in large part to the commis-
sion’s sizable investment in national mar-
keting.
Potato organizations in the state say the
brand-building is a success worth maintaining.
“There is more brand recognition for
Idaho potatoes than for almost anything in
the country,” said Potato Growers of Idaho
Executive Director Keith Esplin. “If they
would quit that, in a few years potatoes
would be a generic product.”
Idaho is the nation’s leading potato pro-
ducer, accounting for about 33 percent of
the fall crop each year, according to the Ag-
ricultural Marketing Resource Center.
for Idaho potatoes than for almost
Keith Esplin, Potato Growers of Idaho Executive Director
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
1997
’00
’05
’10
’15
2017
$2.00
Bushue
new state
executive
director
of FSA
By MITCH LIES
For the Capital Press
Barry Bushue, president of the Or-
egon Farm Bureau for nearly 20 years,
has a new job: Oregon state executive
director of the USDA Farm Service
Agency.
Bushue, who started Oct. 9, re-
placed Acting State Executive Director
Wes Jennings. Prior to Jennings, Phil
Ward served as executive director from
2014 to 2016.
“Bushue is a prov-
en leader and advocate
for agriculture and nat-
ural resources in Ore-
gon with over 25 years
of experience in the
industry,” the agency
wrote in an Oct. 11 re-
lease announcing the
Barry
appointment.
Bushue
Bushue earlier re-
tired as president of the Oregon Farm
Bureau, a position he held for just un-
der two decades.
He said he accepted the FSA posi-
tion in part because of his respect for
the work of the agency.
“I’ve always been a big believer in
the USDA,” he said. “And I’ve been
impressed with Secretary of Agricul-
ture Sonny Perdue.
“This was an ideal opportunity for
me to work for Oregon agriculture
and an agency that I felt has been very
strong in its advocacy for agriculture,”
he said.
At FSA, Bushue said he hopes to
increase awareness of the many loan
programs the agency offers through its
county offices, including direct oper-
ating loans, microloans for small and
beginning or non-traditional farmers,
direct farm ownership loans and emer-
gency loans.
“I think the programs are useful,
they are valuable, they are important,
they provide critical safety nets for
folks,” Bushue said.
Among other features, FSA loans
are designed to help family farmers
and ranchers start, improve or expand
existing operations, add value to farm
products and get young people in-
volved in farming, according to the
FSA website.
Leaving the Oregon Farm Bureau’s
presidency wasn’t easy, Bushue said.
“When you spend that much time
with an organization and with the peo-
ple that supported you, sure it is hard to
leave. But that also opened up oppor-
tunities for change there that may not
have happened as early as if I hadn’t
made the decision, and it opened up
Farm Bureau for some new, young and
exciting leadership.
“There are a lot of young, bright
folks at the Farm Bureau that have all
the capabilities and more than I had,”
he said. “It was a smart time for me to
go.”
In addition to serving as Oregon
Farm Bureau president, Bushue served
as vice president of the American Farm
Bureau for eight years, ending in 2016.
North Cascades elk plan done, but decisions still ahead
Farmers frustrated
by damage
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The new North Cascades elk herd
plan calls for more elk but less dam-
age to farms, a puzzle that may take
hunting on private land to solve.
The Department of Fish and Wild-
life recently finished its 10-year plan
for the herd, which has been damag-
ing crops, fences, pastures and hay
bales in Skagit County in northwest
Washington. The herd hasn’t quite
reached the 1,700- to 2,000-head ob-
jective, according the population esti-
mate cited in the plan.
That count, however, was done in
2016. By a newer count, the herd has
surpassed the population objective,
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Elk gather in a field in eastern Skagit County, Wash. The Department of Fish
and Wildlife has finished a plan to manage the elk, but still must decide on how
to reduce damage to farms.
perhaps by several hundred elk. The
latest count, however, was inexact.
With the help of the American Indian
tribes that co-manage the herd, the de-
partment hopes to make a better esti-
mate next spring.
Fish and Wildlife’s North Puget
Sound regional director, Amy Win-
drope, said Oct. 19 that she suspects
the herd already meets the depart-
ment’s population goal. If the count
next year confirms the herd has sur-
passed the objective, “I think we in-
crease hunting,” she said. “People
love hunting elk.”
Fish and Wildlife and nine Point
Elliott Treaty tribes grew the herd by
limiting hunting and importing 98
elk from Mount St. Helens 15 years
ago. The department’s management
plan hails it as a success. Farmers and
ranchers, however, are reporting ex-
tensive damage.
“I’m frustrated, really frustrated,”
Skagit County Farm Bureau President
Bill Schmidt said. “I feel like maybe
there’s a little sympathy for farmers
with damage complaints, but I don’t
see any remedies.”
Fish and Wildlife issues some spe-
cial hunting permits, but there is no
general hunting season in the valleys
where elk are harming agriculture.