Sources say the 2016 Southern Idaho Potato Cooperative contract will include new langcode mandating a minimum of two years of alternate crops between potatoes.

Southern Idaho Potato Cooperative growers have agreed to a contract that slightly reduces potato prices but requires processors to accept at least 90 percent of their 2014 acreages with individual farms.

A delay in a $100 million expansion project for McCain Foods USA in Burley, Idaho has area potato growers worried about the status of their contracts to sell produce to the company.

Idaho processors have cut potato acres under contract for the coming season by roughly 3 percent, officials with Southeast Idaho Potato Cooperative recently learned.

Idaho potato growers at a Monday meeting in Burley approved processing contracts with J.R. Simplot and McCain Foods that both include payment increases averaging 1.6 percent.

Idaho potato growers will vote Monday in Burley on contracts with McCain Foods and J.R. Simplot Co. paying a 1.6 percent average increase, according to sources involved in negotiations.

Leaders of two potato organizations have advised growers their best options for any unclaimed spuds this season may be to sell them as cattle feed or to leave them in the field for the fertilizer value. Dan Hargraves, who represents processed growers ...

As they commence harvesting early season varieties, Idaho potato growers anticipate a hot summer will contribute to highly variable yields and quality, especially in the eastern part of the state.