December Tri-State News Item In Error

Potato Grower magazine's web site manager wants to apologize to members of the Tri-State Variety Development group in Idaho, Washington and Oregon for making an incorrect connection to germplasm lost out of the program.

Potato Grower was quoting Clen Atchley, Ashton, ID, seed grower. He was speaking in the PGI annual general session in December, explaining that the Tri-State needed to protect its potato germplasm.

Atchley was proposing a marketing arm to keep track of the Tri-State's work which is being done for the benefit of growers in the three-state region. He also explained that any material developed by the group should be tracked and royalties collected when material is sold to put back into the program.

Atchley related that some material of the Alturas variety had been lost to a processor in Canada. He said he was not putting blame on any one program or state for its loss, however.

Potato Grower magazine recognizes the challenges of the program and the many thousands of hours of behind-the-scenes work done annually for the program by participants in each state's program. Atchley said no disparagement of any individual or program was intended.