b'March Marketing Article By, Ten Acre MarketingSpring is almost here, and planting iskeynotespeakerRobSharkey,alsoindustry,thechallengesandissues right around the corner. The new sea- known as the SharkFarmer. While hebeyondtheproductionsector,and sonalsomeansoureventandwas in town, he filmed a segment thattherolesoftheindustrysstateand tradeshow season is winding down.showcased potato production in ournational organizations in maintaining region for his television show on RFD- a positive business climate for potato One of our favorite local events of theTV, SharkFarmer TV. The segment isgrowers. The 2023 program kicked off year,theInternationalCropExpo,expectedtorunonMarch28thatinBuffalo,NewYork,traveled was held on February 22nd and 23rd8:30 CSTand Saturday, April 1st atthrough Pennsylvania, and concluded in Grand Forks, North Dakota, at the1:30 CST. If you miss the first episode,in Washington, D.C., where the class AlerusCenter.Weenjoyedseeingyou can catch it when it runs againalsoparticipatedinNPCs everyone who stopped by our booth,approximately 13 weeks later. WhenWashington Summit held February 27 came to the reception, and attendedwe learn of the rerun schedule we willthru March 3, 2023. meetings throughout the expo. be sure to share that with you. RFD-TVisavailableonmostsatelliteTVDonavonJohnson,Presidentofthe This year at International Crop Expo,providersDISH(Channel231),NorthlandPotatoGrowersAssocia-we had a newly designed booth, com- DirectTV (Channel 345), Polar-Commtion,wasalsoinattendanceatthe plete with the new Northland brand- (Channel205)MidcontinentNational Potato Council Washington ing elements, and a video showcase of(Channel131),orbydownloadingSummit. our efforts this past year. Also new totheapptoyoursmartphone.Find the booth was our featured NorthlandyourlocalRFD-TVchannelatAs we approach the new growing sea-brandedmerchandise.Onethinghttps://www.rfdtv.com/ find-us-on-tv. son, demand for our products remains remained the same, our potato chips.optimistic. In early February, Potatoes ThisyeartheywerehandedouttoWe are also excited to announce NickUSAreleasedareportonthe2022 eventattendeeswithournewlyDesautel and Cole Vculek were select- potatoretailsales.Thereportstates designed packaging.edtoattendthePotatoIndustryretailsalesincreasedindollarsales LeadershipInstituteonFebruary22by14.4%butdecreasedinvolume Oneofourfavoritepartsofthethrough March 3, 2023. salesby-1.5%fromJanuarythru International Crop Expo (other thanDecember2022comparedto2021. catching up with all of you folks) isFor more than 60 years the founda- Despiteaslightdecreaseinvolume the groundbreaking research, technol- tion and success of the potato indus- sales, volume sales remain 3.7% above ogy, and ideas that benefit the grow- try have been built on the hard workpre-pandemiclevels.Tolearnmore ers of this region. We heard talks onand participation of its grower lead- about this study and stay connected agronomyandpestmanagement,ers.ThePotatoIndustryLeadershipto potato industry news, please visit: took in the latest research reports, andInstituteprovidesup-and-cominghttps://potatoesusa.com/newsletter/ of course, enjoyed fellowship at ourleaderswiththetoolstheyneedtoand subscribe to the newsletter. annual meeting Tuesday night. succeed in the potato industry.Wewishyouasafeandsuccessful AnotherhighlightduringtheTheLeadershipInstitutewasheldplanting season. InternationalCropExpowasover the course of 10 days and provid-AgCountryssponsoringoftheedanoverviewoftheU.S.potato 4 POTATO GROWER MARCH 2023'