May 2009

• Market Uncertainty
• Schneider Farms In January, members of the National Potato Council elected Ed Schneider of Schneider Farms in Pasco, Wash., the council president for 2009. He succeeds Rich Polatis of Blackfoot, Idaho.
• Shareholder Demands It used to be that a publicly held company’s only responsibility to its shareholders was to be profitable. But today investment groups and individual shareholders are increasingly making demands of the companies they hold shares in. That was the case for McDonald’s in December when three investment groups each submitted a shareholder’s resolution concerning pesticide use.
• Snake River Recharge A March 26 announcement that Idaho Power and the state of Idaho had signed a tentative accord has state officials hailing the agreement as a reaffirmation of the state’s ownership of the Snake River water flow and the state’s attempts at managed recharge of its depleted Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer.