Dear Action Line: It must be a couple dozen times I’ve driven past this sign for the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee in Monte Vista, and every time I wonder the same thing: “What possible complex administrative issues do potatoes have that require not only a standing committee but a dedicated office building?” Action Line has an eye for this kind of question. Time to dig up some answers. Sign me, Spuds N. Tubers
Dear Spuds N. Tubers: Apparently like you, Action Line assumed that there were a bunch of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads gathering regularly around a long, polished wooden table, discussing noses, mouths, eyes and ears, and how rough those plastic pieces are against their thin skins.
Upon further investigation, this turns out to not be quite true. Actual people are attending these meetings, deciding potatoes’ fate without their knowledge or input. No, that doesn’t sound fair. Potato rights are so often ignored these days.
Potatoes are a huge, serious business in the San Luis Valley, and the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee is central to this industry. CPAC, formed in 1941, now represents more than 150 spud growers and shippers.
“By upholding high-quality standards and practicing sustainability, we’ve helped make the world of potato growing better,” it says on the CPAC website. (Emails to CPAC administrators for comment were not returned.)
The committee and its staff members provide research and marketing, and have created an inspection process “to ensure the safety and quality of over 2 billion pounds of Colorado potatoes every year.”
Potatoes are not a common crop now in the Animas Valley, but they were in the olden days. For starters, the Zink family, which still owns Waterfall Ranch on the west side of the valley, used to farm the heck out of potatoes. Jerry Zink just a few years ago introduced Action Line to purple potatoes, which look weird when mashed but are darn good. A few local potato growers remain, and you might find some at the Durango Farmers Market.
The latest on potato growing? Costs are going up, in part because Russia is a major supplier of fertilizer to many countries, according to a recent story in the Alamosa Valley Courier that featured CPAC. Growers are concerned that even though potato prices are strong, their profits will be eaten up by rising costs such as for fertilizer.
The San Luis Valley region is said to be the country’s “number two fresh market potato supplier,” the Valley Courier reported. Who’s No. 1? You guessed it, Idaho.
The top potato varieties in the San Luis Valley are all russets. Russets have nothing to do with Russia; the word russet is derived from the word “rust” and was used as a nickname for people with red hair before it was used for potatoes.
If you’re thinking potato people don’t know how to have fun, then you haven’t been to the annual San Luis Valley Potato Festival. The next one is in Monte Vista on Sept. 10, about the time the potato harvest begins. Get ready for vendors, tours, the Tater Trot 5K, kids games and the ever-popular Octane Addictions, which includes some sort of motorbike aerial freestyle show. For those geographically challenged, Monte Vista is about 130 miles pretty much due east of Durango along U.S. Highway 160.
If you want to know more about potatoes, like the variety names, recipes, storage tips (you know you do), visit coloradopotato.org.
Action Line has been chastised. And it was by an anonymous reader, which makes it doubly annoying at least twice. Action Line does not like to be redundant, at least not over and over again. And also doesn’t like getting unsigned letters from people who don’t identify themselves.
The problem was that last week Action Line said Airport Director Tony Vicari “replied back.” According to a page from some sort of grammar book, sent as an extra attachment by the anonymous person that didn’t include his or her name, “’Reply back’ is redundant because ‘reply’ already conveys the idea of getting back to someone.”
Action Line wonders if “reply back” is actually OK in this case, because Vicari was replying to an item he’d already replied to once.
Well, it doesn’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong. Grammar is important. It’s all about basic fundamentals. Action Line apologizes and will try not to repeat this same or similar error like it anytime again in the future.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Sorry, no added bonus here at the present time.
