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Potato growers band together for contract

By GENE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
For the first time in history, potato growers in central Wisconsin have banded together to negotiate a potato-processing contract with McCain Foods USA.

More than 96 percent of the growers in Wisconsin and Minnesota individually signed over their authority to negotiate that contract to the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) Frozen Process Committee.

Now the growers are weighing a proposal to reverse declining revenues from their crops for the last several years.

The WPVGA worked out the best deal it could and got a better deal than last year, said Jim Wysocki of Wysocki Farms on Wednesday, April 24. "Now the growers' decision will be to accept or not."

Wysocki said the idea behind the association's involvement was to speak with one voice, and then the members would decide individually whether they wanted to accept the contract because the association couldn't do it collectively.

"The membership has voted to release themselves individually," he said, indicating that growers need to decide on the contract soon based on the planting season at hand.

The decision for a collective voice followed the 2001 growing season when a reported 40 percent of all potatoes were rejected by McCain due to density issues.

The impact was significant, since McCain's Plover plant processes about 8 million hundredweight of potatoes per year, more than one-fourth of the state's annual potato production.

Randy Duckworth, executive director of the WPVGA, said, "Growers have simply asked for a contract that provides a modest return over and above their cost of production." He said growers received $3.93 per hundredweight of potatoes in 2001 and it cost them $4.50 per hundred to produce.

Facing that situation, Duckworth said the growers only other real alternative is for processed vegetables and they need to make a decision soon because the planting season is at hand.

A poll conducted at a growers' meeting indicated that those present would plant not more than 65 percent of the volume they contracted the previous years under the initial terms that McCain proposed.

If production is smaller, that could help increase the prices and reduce the surplus of recent years.



	Potato growers band together for contract By GENE KEMMETER of The Gazette For the first time in history, potato growers in central Wisconsin have banded together to negotiate a potato-processing contract with McCain Foods USA. More than 96 percent of the growers in Wisconsin and Minnesota individually signed over their authority to negotiate that contract to the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) Frozen Process Committee. Now the growers are weighing a proposal to reverse declining revenues from their crops for the last several years. The WPVGA worked out the best deal it could and got a better deal than last year, said Jim Wysocki of Wysocki Farms on Wednesday, April 24. "Now the growers' decision will be to accept or not." Wysocki said the idea behind the association's involvement was to speak with one voice, and then the members would decide individually whether they wanted to accept the contract because the association couldn't do it collectively. "The membership has voted to release themselves individually," he said, indicating that growers need to decide on the contract soon based on the planting season at hand. The decision for a collective voice followed the 2001 growing season when a reported 40 percent of all potatoes were rejected by McCain due to density issues. The impact was significant, since McCain's Plover plant processes about 8 million hundredweight of potatoes per year, more than one-fourth of the state's annual potato production. Randy Duckworth, executive director of the WPVGA, said, "Growers have simply asked for a contract that provides a modest return over and above their cost of production." He said growers received $3.93 per hundredweight of potatoes in 2001 and it cost them $4.50 per hundred to produce. Facing that situation, Duckworth said the growers only other real alternative is for processed vegetables and they need to make a decision soon because the planting season is at hand. A poll conducted at a growers' meeting indicated that those present would plant not more than 65 percent of the volume they contracted the previous years under the initial terms that McCain proposed. If production is smaller, that could help increase the prices and reduce the surplus of recent years.