The fact that you, a potato grower, have picked up this issue and are reading it during the busiest time of the year have means something to us. I know how crazy things get, how unanticipated problems arise—whether the harvester hit a mountainous rock or whether winter just can’t wait until harvest is over.

We do appreciate the time you’re spending picking up our magazine and hope you’re using it as a convenient guidebook for industry contacts. Our goal in revamping the Industry Directory into the Industry Handbook was to make this issue more current—as current as a print magazine can be—and more user-friendly so you can keep this issue in your pickup as a convenient reference (after all, it does fit quite nicely in that side pocket on the driver’s side door), or in your office with the local phonebook. Life doesn’t have a handbook—shouldn’t the industry?

This year we celebrate four full decades in print! That means a growing number of growers out there may not remember the first issue! If you do, by all means, let us know your story! Tell us the difference you’ve seen in the magazine from the premier issue over the years until now. We’d love to hear from you, and with your permission print your story in the special 40th Anniversary issue.