Othello resident to head cooperative

OTHELLO - A longtime Othello face is the new chairman of a national potato cooperative.

At the Dec. 6 annual meeting of United Potato Growers of America, Othello resident Allan Floyd was elected chairman of the grower cooperative for the coming year.

Floyd said he had been on the board for the cooperative since it started, and served as vice chairman for the last year.

"I anticipated it," he said.

A resident of Othello since 1962, Floyd is a grower and partner of Harvest Fresh and HF Farms. He has served on the United Board of Directors as the chair of United Potato Growers of Washington and Northeast Oregon for the last three years. He is also a current commissioner and former chair of the Washington State Potato Commission.

"I hope to just continue on all the programs we have going, expand our membership and just keep doing what we're doing," he said.

Floyd thinks his being elected chairman will help area fresh potato growers in efforts to stabilize the market.

"We're trying to get a more even flow to the potato market, so we don't oversupply or undersupply," he said. "We're trying to grow the right amount of spuds to fit the market. It should make a better return on an average for the farmers."

The chairman position is an open position, but Floyd anticipates he'll just hold onto it for one year.

More growth, holding to a positive crop level and sales for farmers are Floyd's biggest goals for his term.

"But mostly better growth for them," he said.

Continuous growth is the biggest need, Floyd said, and getting the United Potato Growers Partners Program off the ground.

Initiated in 2007, the program offers growers savings on agriculture-related purchases from corporations which sign a Partners agreement. Corporate partners receive an immediate inside track for promoting products to growers.

Part of Floyd's duties include getting the cooperative's new chief executive officer on board. Lee Frankel begins his tenure Jan. 2.

Created in November 2004 under the Capper-Volstead Act, United Fresh Potato Growers of Idaho organized to control acreage, manage potato supply and raise the price farmers receive for their crop. The movement quickly spread across the country, so by March 2005 United Potato Growers of America was formed, and by December a national office was established in Salt Lake City, Utah.