After being harvested, more than 80 percent of the Idaho state potato crop is stored. A lot can go wrong during storage and having a good understanding of what goes on during that process is critically important to Idaho’s potato farmers, who collectively produce about 13 billion pounds of spuds each year, which is one-third of the nation’s total potato supply.
Efforts by University of Idaho researchers to improve potato storage technology got a boost recently thanks to a $1 million investment to create an endowed research professorship. Wayne and Peggy Thiessen donated $500,000 to create the endowment and the Idaho Potato Commission matched that donation.
The endowment creates a new position for a faculty member in U of I’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences that will focus on the physiology of potato storage, helping support Idaho potato growers, processors and shippers. The endowment will support research needs and provide funding for graduate students.
Source: idahofb.org