After 18 years as the Executive Director of the Idaho Potato Commission, Frank Muir decided this fall to retire from the organization. Muir said taking over the Commission in 2003 was challenging in a variety of ways. He noted one of the biggest challenges was not trade, or government regulations, but the diets of millions of Americans.

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“Adkins diet and other low-carb/no-carb diets were at the forefront of American’s cuisine.  So, even here in Idaho, there was a very negative push against potatoes in general.  There was a potential bill that was going to be introduced into the Idaho capitol in the legislature to remove “Famous Potatoes” from our license plate.”

Muir noted that over the past two decades not only have Americans come back to the potato, but no commodity is so associated with its state the way the potato is with Idaho.

He added another challenge when he started, many people, including lawmakers in Boise did not understand the value of the potato industry and the impact it had on Idaho’s overall economy. He pointed out that most people don’t know that Micron, one of the Treasure Valley’s largest companies was started with “potato money”. And the economic impact doesn’t end there.

“There’s well over 30,000-40,000 jobs just in Idaho alone tied to potatoes.  Some of the major potato companies in the world have their world headquarters right here, such as Simplot, Lamb Weston, Idahoan on the dehydrated side.  These are very well know, very successful companies in the state of Idaho, but they are also successful worldwide.”




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