Fighting fit: US spud industry going on offensive, think ‘performance vegetable’

The U.S. potato industry likes to describe its product as “America’s favorite vegetable.” But the industry acknowledges that critics have put potato marketing efforts “on the defensive,” causing “us to say that it’s OK to eat potatoes,” said Blair Richardson, president and CEO of Potatoes USA, the nation’s potato marketing agency. Now, his group is close to approving a marketing push that would put potatoes “on the offensive,” with “us saying that you should be eating potatoes,” he said. The push will encourage consumers — who sometimes use the term “couch potato” now — to focus on potatoes’ nutritional properties and think of spuds as a “performance vegetable,” Richardson said. Potatoes USA has been working for the past year on its fledgling plan to put potato marketing on the offensive. The organization is expected to make an official decision in the next few weeks on whether to go ahead with the plan, Richardson said. The marketing push would enhance the potato industry’s already bright future, he said. More