Idaho Gov. Butch Otter appointed Brett Jensen and Todd Cornelison to the Idaho Potato Commission, effective at the nine-member panel’s Oct. 24 meeting. Otter also reappointed Dan Nakamura. Jensen succeeds James Hoff as a grower-member. Cornelison succeeds Lynn Wilcox as a fresh-pack shipper. Hoff completed one three-year term, Wilcox two.
Jensen owns Brett Jensen Farms, a 13,000-acre operation in the Idaho Falls-Hamer area. The farm grows potatoes for the fresh and processing markets. “I am excited to join the commission, learn and see if I can help the Idaho potato industry,” Jensen said. “I’m not going in with an agenda. I need to get there and learn what I can do to help.”
Cornelison, owner and CEO at fresh-pack shipper High Country Potato in Rexburg, served as the commission’s first industry relations director, based in eastern Idaho, from 2007 to 2012. He acquired the packing business from his father in 2007 but leased it to another operator until 2012, when the lease expired and he began running the business.