At the National Potato Council’s (NPC) 2015 annual meeting, held Jan. 9-10 in Orlando, Fla., Dan Lake of Ronan, Mont., was elected to serve as the NPC President for 2015 and to lead the council’s Executive Committee.
Lake is an owner and partner of Lake Seed, Inc. in Ronan, Mont., where he farms with his three brothers David, Pat, and Tim. The Lake family farm was started in Ronan 79 years ago by Dan’s grandfather Acel, an Idaho transplant, who later turned the farm over to Lake’s parents, Don and Bernadine.
Dan Lake has previously held several positions with NPC, including first vice president and vice president of the Environmental Affairs, Legislative and Governmental Affairs Committee member, Water and Endangered Species Subcommittee member, Disease Management and Seed Certification Subcommittee member, voting delegate for the State of Montana, and U.S. Potato Board Seed Task Force Committee member.
In accepting the position, Lake noted his future goals as well as the positive impact of previous NPC presidents. “I want to continue to build on the momentum that NPC has already achieved by staying active and focused on the issues that impact the potato industry the greatest,” said Lake. “Ensuring positive results in all aspects of our industry is why I’m excited to be here to lend my voice and leadership. Our message has room to grow and we will continue our grassroots efforts that NPC is based on by reaching out to all potato-growing states equally regardless of production volume.”