Idaho University Moscow campus will soon be hosting a new USD5.5m Seed Potato Germplasm Laboratory. This new lab is, in fact, an upgrade to the previous facility that maintains the startup material that Idaho’s potato industry uses to produce about 90% of the potatoes grown in Idaho.
In fact, almost 60% of the spuds grown in the US originate from the facility.
The laboratory ensures the tissue culture that is used to grow potatoes is disease-free and high quality. The facility maintains disease-free tissue culture for about 300 different potato varieties.
There have never been any sanitary issues with the previous facility but because the old facility included common-use spaces and a lot of foot traffic, the possibility existed, according to experts. They say that the new facility is designed to make the possibility of contamination a non-issue.
The Idaho Legislature approved USD3m toward the facility, the IPC has provided USD1.25m, CALS provided USD1m and the rest of the money came from contributions from industry and individual growers.
The new facility is much bigger than the previous one and will allow the program to significantly ramp up production as the industry requires. Also, it is expected to go functional before the end of 2021 and CALS officials plan to hold a grand opening next spring.
