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On July 6th, 2026 at 11am, there will be a nominations meeting for Idaho delegates to serve on the Potatoes USA Board. This year Idaho has 5 open position to fill with 6 eligible for being renominated.
The meeting will be held at the Idaho Potato Commission office in Idaho Falls, Idaho, located at 3670 South 25th East, Idaho Falls, ID. 83405. There will also be a Microsoft TEAMS link to participate if needed. Please contact Travis Blacker for this link. Each potato organization growing more than 5 (five) acres of potatoes is eligible to participate in nominating and voting for these positions.
If you have any questions, please call Travis Blacker at 208-360-9560.
Responsibilities of this assignment include:
- Attend the Board’s Meeting. There is a meeting in January, March and July-August. Please make sure that there is not a yearly scheduling conflict for these meetings and that you can attend. i.e. no conflicts with family vacation, etc.
- Represent and communicate with his/her constituents on a regular basis
- Dedicate the time to actively support Potatoes USA activities in his/her area
- Be available when called by Potatoes USA staff to speak to grower groups, newspaper reporters and interested parties about: Potatoes USA programs; the value of the Board to all growers; how the 3.0¢/hundredweight assessment is invested; and how interested parties can become active in the promotion of potatoes.
Potatoes USA Nominations Process
Membership
Potatoes USA is composed of producers, importers, and a public member appointed by the Secretary. Producer members are appointed from nominations submitted by producers in the various States. Importer members are appointed from nominations submitted by importers. The Public member is nominated by Board members in such manner as recommended by the Board and approved by the Secretary and shall be appointed by the Secretary.
A. Each state shall be entitled to one (1) producer member on the board for each ten million (10,000,000) hundredweight of potato production or major fraction thereof produced within such state; provided, that each state shall be entitled to not less than one (1) member. Such membership shall be determined pursuant to §1207.320(b) of the Plan.
B. The number of Importer member positions on the Board is based on the hundredweights of potatoes, potato products equivalent to fresh potatoes, and seed potatoes imported into the United States, but shall not exceed two importer members. Unless the Secretary, upon recommendation of the Board, determines an alternate basis, there shall be one importer member position for each ten million hundredweight, or major fraction thereof, of potatoes, potato product equivalents, and seed potatoes imported into the United States.
C. Any State in which the potato producers fail to respond to an officially called nomination meeting may be combined with an adjacent State for the purpose of representation on the Board, in which case the Board’s producer member selected by the Secretary will represent both States, but such member’s voting power will not be increased.
D. If the Board fails to nominate a public member, the Secretary may appoint such member.
Term of Office
A) The term of office of Board members is three years, beginning March 15th, or such other beginning date as may be approved pursuant to regulations.
B) The terms of office of the Board’s producer members shall be so determined that approximately one-third of the terms will expire each year. Importer and public member terms shall run concurrently. To accomplish this, names have been assigned to each seat on the board. The seats will have a rolling 3-year term assigned to them. The term expiration year will vary from seat to seat. Potatoes USA will notify you of the open seat’s term length. Should a sitting board member resign before the end of their term, an applicant will be eligible to apply for the remainder of the term’s length before reapplying for a second, consecutive term, if desired.
C) Board members shall serve during the term of office for which they are selected and have qualified, and until their successors are selected and have qualified.
D) No member shall serve for more than two full successive terms of office.