In this week’s program we will meet the CEO’s of the National Potato Council and the United States Potato Board. I met both of these guys while covering the Potato Expo last week for my first time.
Let’s start our with John Keeling, CEO of the National Potato Council. We focused on potato policy issues which as you might guess are very similar to other farm commodities. They include WOTUS and food labeling issues. Foreign trade is also a very critical issue for the sustainability of potato growers.
John says that potatoes fared well with the recent update to dietary guidelines. He says some have been trying to remove vegetable as the designation of what a potato is. I hope that doesn’t go anywhere.
Next up I talked with Blair Richardson, President & CEO of the U.S. Potato Board. The gong you can see behind him was used at the close of his report to signal the unveiling of the Spud Nation Food Truck.
Why a food truck? Blair explains, “By 2017, food trucks will be a $2.7 billion market according to the National Restaurant Association,” he said. “Currently food trucks are only reaching about 50 percent of the U.S. population, but it’s one of the fastest growing market segments in foodservice, and several sources reveal there are huge opportunities for the future. Seventy-one percent of Americans polled in a recent survey indicated they are comfortable buying meals from food trucks. We need to be a leader and trend setter in this rapidly changing environment.”
Listen to this week’s ZimmCast to learn more about taters here: Potato Executives from Potato Expo
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