May 9, 2007

LANSING - Michigan’s potato growers today approved a referendum to continue the Michigan Potato Industry Commission under a referendum conducted in April.

Established in 1970, the Michigan Potato Industry Commission was designed to promote the potato industry through research, promotion, advertising, and market development and expansion.

The Commission will continue for an additional five years beginning July 1, 2007. The current assessment rate is 3-1/2 cents per hundredweight for the grower and 1-1/2 cents per hundredweight for the first handler.

A total of 23 valid ballots were cast in the referendum. Of those, 19 growers voted yes (83 percent) representing 3,980,989 hundredweight (90 percent of the production volume represented) and four growers voted no (17 percent) representing 435,845 hundredweight (10 percent).

For renewal of the program more than 50 percent of the grower votes cast, representing more than 50 percent of the total number of hundredweight represented on the cast ballots, must have approved it.