chris voigt

Sustainability is of growing importance for consumers and companies, meaning highlighting the successes in the farming community is becoming more and more important.

The past couple of seasons have been challenging for the local potato industry, but not because of poor crop yields or bad weather.

The potato industry has struggled the past couple of years with lighter consumer demand, resulting in some contracts being reduced or terminated all together. Is that going to be an issue in 2025 and into the future?

Farmers are typically an optimistic bunch, but unfortunately, many things that control their success or failure are beyond their control.  For example, the health of the U.S. and foreign economies has a direct impact on what farmers can do year in and year out.  Chris V...

There are still many questions about the DOGE cuts put forward by the Administration, but one thing is for certain; the local potato industry is already feeling the impact.   Chris Voigt, Executive Director of the Washington state Potato Commission, said the federal cuts weren’t surgical, and it appears there wasn’t much thought behind the decisions made.  Voigt said the...

Tariffs can have short-term and long-term impacts on the agriculture industry.  The short-term may mean higher fertilizer prices, or fewer exports markets for a season or two.  The long-term impacts can change the make-up of the global market.  No where is that ...

For the past eight plus weeks, much of the international focus and concern for the farming community has been on trade and tariffs.  But, for potato growers there are other international concerns.  Chris Voigt, Executive Director of the Washington State Potato Commission said over the past 2-3 years, China and India have become major players, and competitors with the United States when it comes to

This was a good year for the Washington/Oregon Potato Conference.  The largest potato conference in North America got a little bigger this year, with a record attendance of over 3,000 attendees, surpassing last year’s attendance of 2,600, which at that time was a record.   “Widel...

The 2025 Washington/Oregon Potato Conference takes place this week in the Tri-Cities.  Chris Voigt, Executive Director of the Washington State Potato Commission said with over 2,600 attendees and nearly 170 vendors, this is the largest potato Conference in North America.  Voigt s...

Chris Voigt, Executive Director of the Washington State Potato Commission said he started this harvest season with a lot of optimism, but now he’s a bit more cautious.  Voigt said it’s not clear what impact, if any, the prolonged heat of July and August had on this year’s late season varieties, so there is some reason for concern.  But, despite those issues...