University of Idaho potato researchers plan an industry tour June 10-14.

The Potato Production Tour, held every other year, hosts up to 10 UI and Washington State University graduate students studying a potato specialty.

“I have the hope that if they attend this, they are a little more well rounded,” said Rhett Spear, UI assistant professor and potato variety development specialist based at the university’s Aberdeen Research and Extension Center. “They are not just sitting in a lab thinking that is the most important thing to potato production. The lab people have to work with the field people.”

Idaho leads the U.S. in potato production. The tour includes stops around the state’s productive southern region.

Scheduled destinations and presentations relate to seed purity, certification and production; public and private research; potato farming and storage; planting and harvesting equipment; fresh-pack shipping; processing potatoes into frozen and other products; and marketing.

A couple of stops, such as to view irrigation infrastructure and research on rotation crops, impact potato production substantially even though they are not potato-specific, Spear said.

In researching and producing potatoes, “we always talk about weather, water availability and things like variety development,” he said. One goal is to reduce inputs and expenses needed to grow a good crop.

The tour will stretch from Ashton in the northeast to the Boise area in the southwest, including visits to growers and the Eagle-based Idaho Potato Commission.

UI’s Pamela Hutchinson, Aberdeen-based potato cropping systems weed scientist, will lead the tour with Spear. Kayla Spawton, recently hired director of the university’s seed potato germplasm program on the main campus in Moscow, is slated on the tour.

Students earn one graduate credit hour. The tour is funded by an endowment headed by several growers.

Information: Spear, 208-844-6322 or rhetts@uidaho.edu.