University of Idaho extension potato specialists are holding a Best Management Practices Field Day near Blackfoot, ID, Wednesday, July 28.
The BMP system is an effort to help growers cut back on inputs to lower production costs while maintaining or increasing yields.
The study was started in 2002 by Dr. Bryan Hopkins of the Idaho Falls, ID, R and E Center on a field in Rexburg, ID. That year the BMP plot yielded 30 sacks more and cut expenses by $205 as compared to the high-input plots in net income.
Last year, BMP and high-input plots in five Pacific Northwest locations yielded about the same but the BMP plots were more profitable. In Hermiston, OR, and Moses Lake, WA, high-input plots outperformed the BMP plots in yield and quality but their improved performance couldn't overcome their higher production costs.
The field day in at a location on Riverton Road west of Blackfoot, ID, where growers will get a chance to see how this year's trials are being set up. It will start at 9 a.m. and run until after a lunch about 1 p.m. Contact (208) 529-8376 to RSVP for the sponsored steak/chicken lunch.