Potato producers in Idaho are well aware that University of Idaho faculty and staff working in potatoes are not located in one place. For this reason, a virtual center made up of faculty and staff located at the UI campus, four research and education centers and numerous county Extension offices was formed. This virtual center is called Idaho Center for Potato Research and Education (ICPRE).
The mission of ICPRE is to coordinate and link all aspects of research, Extension and academic programs related to potatoes at UI for the purpose of advancing the science of potatoes. ICPRE is associated with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and is administered by the dean of the college. Specific objectives of ICPRE are to:
- Create greater visibility for UI potato programs.
- Facilitate the development of interdisciplinary potato research.
- Increase extramural funding for potato research and extension programs.
- Provide a focal point for disseminating information and technology about potatoes and the science of potato production.
- Develop stronger relationships with other potato-related entities in identifying, addressing, solving and transferring solutions to meet the challenges faced by the Idaho potato industry.
To help accomplish the fourth objective, on information dissemination, a website was developed that can be accessed at: www.ag.uidaho.edu/potato. Our goal for this website is to make it a one-stop shop for all potato information from UI. Can't remember how to contact a person working in potatoes with UI or want to find someone working in a particular area? Just log onto the site and click on the "People Involved" menu item. Here you can find contact information about that person as well as information they have published. Or, let's say you want information about a new potato cultivar, about fertility or any topic ranging from planting to harvest to storage. Go to the ICPRE website and click on the "Research and Extension" menu item. That will take you to newsletter articles, potato conference proceedings, bulletins and other publications covering a vast array of topics.
These are just a couple examples of features we hope you'll find valuable on this website that has just recently undergone a complete revamping. You'll also find a links to pest alerts, potato variety information, calendar of events and even a link to the annual UI Potato Conference.
With this improved website you'll only have to bookmark one site for all your potato information. We encourage readers of Potato Grower magazine to visit the site for answers to all of their potato questions.
Editor's Note: The website committee, who also prepared this article, consists of Dr. William (Bill) Bohl, chair; Dr. Mike Thornton, Dr. Nora Olsen, Dr. Phillip Wharton, Dr. Phillip Nolte, Mary Jo Frazier and Peggy Bain. UI staff are deeply indebted to Julie Haddox from Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station office on the Moscow campus for acting as webmaster.