Coming out of the January 2005 Grower Survey, 73% of U.S. potato growers rated the job being done by the United States Potato Board (USPB) as “excellent or good.” By many standards that level of support for an industry organization is very strong.

In the summer of 2006, the USPB Industry Communications and Policy (ICP) Committee and Staff Department were created with the goal of segmenting communications, by each of the five production segments. In January 2009, when the next Grower Survey was conducted, 83% of U.S. potato growers rated the job being done by the USPB as “excellent or good,” an unprecedented 10% point jump, thereby, validating the new USPB Industry Communications strategy.

With the completion of the 2014 Grower Survey and the presentation of the results to the full Board at the USPB’s 42nd Annual Meeting, March 12, in Colorado Springs, CO, 88% of U.S. potato growers now rate the job being done by the USPB as “excellent or good.”

Noted USPB Vice President, Industry Communications and Policy, David Fraser, “While the 5% point jump to 88% is truly outstanding, and we are extremely pleased with this proof USPB Industry Communications programs are, indeed, successfully informing the industry of the ongoing programs, activities and success of the USPB’s efforts to build demand for potatoes and potato products, both domestically and globally, an even more remarkable number to us was the fact growers rating the job being done by the USPB as ‘excellent’ more than doubled from 13% in 2009 to 27% in 2014!”

For more information on this report or to read the full release check out uspotatoes.com.