The USDA is taking steps to officially dissolve the marketing order for potatoes in the state of Washington.
The agency is taking comments on the proposal to terminate Marketing Order No. 946, Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington, until Dec. 14.
The state’s potato growers have operated without the order since 2013, when the USDA approved a recommendation from the State of Washington Potato Committee to suspend the marketing order’s handling requirements “indefinitely to allow handlers the opportunity to explore alternative marketing strategies,” according to a USDA news release.
The committee has determined that suspending the grading and handling requirements mandated by the order hasn’t negatively affected the industry, and it’s no longer needed.
That means grower assessments, and the record-keeping required by the USDA by the marketing order, are no longer necessary. The marketing order was established in 1949.