Jul 15, 2024USDA announces $50 million surplus commodity purchase for potatoes
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Services (AMS) has announced a $50 million surplus commodity purchase for potatoes.
The news came in response to a request made by the National Potato Council on behalf of the Washington State Potato Commission and the Idaho Potato Commission, according to a news release.
During the NPC Washington Summit in February, the leaders of both state organizations asked that NPC take the rare step of requesting USDA to utilize its surplus commodity purchasing (Section 32) authority to deal with a significant oversupply of potatoes from the 2023 growing year, according to the release. After two months of discussions with all state potato organizations, NPC requested the purchase via letter to USDA on April 25.
“We thank Secretary (Tom) Vilsack and the entire team at AMS for taking this request so seriously, as evidenced by the resources committed in their announcement,” Dean Gibson, NPC vice president of legislative affairs, said in the release. “We also appreciate the work of Randy Russell and his team at The Russell Group for their strategic counsel on making this occur. Additionally, the industry thanks Mark Klompien, president and CEO of United Potato Growers of America, for providing excellent data on the current and future economics that made a compelling case to USDA to justify this unusual but necessary step to temporarily assist impacted growers.”
NPC’s letter noted that the current oversupply could harm growers for several years. The letter read, in part: “After numerous meetings with officials representing the major U.S. production areas, the industry has determined that a surplus commodity purchase of $50 million would provide some relief.”
The Idaho Potato Commission welcomed the news as the state continues to ship a high volume of potatoes in preparation for the 2024 crop.
“We would like to thank Secretary Vilsack and his staff at USDA-AMS for their responsiveness to this infrequent request from the potato industry,” IPC said in a statement. “In addition, we appreciate Mark Klompien with United Potato Growers of America; Kam Quarles and Dean Gibson of National Potato Council; the Russell Group; and the IPC staff for their efforts in submitting the request to USDA.”
Potato breeding research boost
On July 11, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and passed the FY25 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The bill provides more than $27 billion in total funding for the agencies — an $821 million increase over fiscal year 2024.
The measure also includes $4 million for NIFA potato breeding research — the same level as fiscal year 2024 — but $500,000 less than a funding measure passed by the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee last month.
“We appreciate our allies in the Senate for recognizing the vital nature of NIFA’s Potato Research Special Grants for the continued health of America’s potato industry,” NPC CEO Kam Quarles said in a statement. “As the funding bills move through both chambers, NPC and our state potato association partners will continue to advocate for the House’s higher support level, which will help keep the industry competitive into the future.”
