The 41st Annual Potato Conference opened Wednesday, Jan. 21, in the Pond Student Union on the Idaho State University campus. During the conference and expo I saw a number of growers and researchers that I have interviewed over the past 12 months since becoming Spudman's Idaho editor, and everyone I spoke to about the upcoming season were non-committal when asked to predict how the season would play out. I think the economy has everyone holding their collective pocketbooks and waiting to see what measures the new administration takes. The growers I spoke to about the new Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, seem to approve the choice, but there's still a wait-and-see attitude.

The big buzz word at the conference was sustainability. The Wednesday mid-morning seminar by John Keeling of the National Potato Council and Joe Browde of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance filled the Bengal Auditorium. Keeling opened the seminar discussing the qualities of what sustainability will mean to growers, while admitting that they are still working on defining what is sustainability.

I think what Keeling was telling growers is that the bottom line of sustainability is better growing practices and sharing grower knowledge while incorporating modern business practices out in the field. I'll have a lot more on this issue in the March Spudman.

During the conference some of our readers would stop by the Spudman booth to comment on our publication and I received an earful of comments, both good and some not so good regarding stories I've written or stories I should be writing. I appreciated all the comments and encourage any of our readers to send me an e-mail if there's a story out there you think needs to be told.

– William Schaefer, Idaho Editor, Spudman