Membership - Potato Growers Association

Membership and 2005 Dues

2005 dues are up $25 in most categories. The board voted the increase at the Tue. July 13 board meeting, and it is the first one since 1999. Grower dues go by potato acres, not total farm acres.

Category	2004	2005
Grower, under 200 acres	$125	$150
Grower, 200 - 999 acres	$250	$275
Grower, 1,000 - 2,499 acres	$425	$450
Grower, 2,500 acres and up	$675	$700
Associate member (business)	$200	$225
Retired grower	$35	$35
Ag student (college or FFA)	free	free

Who Can Join

Grower - commercial or seed potato growers in our 6 districts (map). Grower members vote for directors at the annual meeting. We had 637 for 2004.
Associate - one membership per business: shippers, dealers, lenders, consultants, processor fieldmen. 88 for 2004. They have a non-voting seat on the board, now held by Dennis Moe of Burley.
Retired - former grower members no longer farming, 41 of them. Still get The Spud Line.
Ag student - college ag majors and FFA members, with an advisor's signature. 26 this year, 15 of them from the Shelley and Aberdeen FFA chapters.

Joining or Renewing

Wed. Dec. 1 - 2005 renewal notices mailed, with your 2004 category and acres printed on them. Correct anything that changed and send it back with your check.
Mon. Jan. 31 - dues due.

New members can call for a form or just mail a check with this:

Send	Notes
Name and farm name
Mailing address and phone
Fax number	for the Monday price survey
Potato acres	2004, seed and commercial together
District	1 Upper Snake, 2 Southeast/Magic Valley, 3 Columbia Basin, 4 Klamath, 5 Mountain, 6 Nebraska

Checks payable to "PGAW", mailed to P.O. Box 1187, Blackfoot, Idaho 83221. No credit cards.

What Members Get

2004-2005	Members	Non-members
The Spud Line, about 8 pages	every month	not sold
PGAW price survey	fax every Monday, Sept. thru May	no
Trade show booth, 10x10, Feb. 15-17, Idaho Falls	$375	$450
Storage workshop, Dec. 7, Moses Lake	free	$20
Scholarships for children and grandchildren	four at $1,000	none

Scholarships

For 2005 there are four $1,000 scholarships for children and grandchildren of PGAW members and one $500 scholarship for an ag student. Applications have to be in at the PGAW office by Tuesday, March 1, 2005. Call the office for an application and send it back with a transcript, two letters of recommendation and one page about yourself and what you plan to study.

Past chairman Lyle Gee of St. Anthony chairs the Scholarship Committee, with LaRae Christensen of St. Anthony and Dennis Moe of Burley. This year's Spud Classic golf scramble at Pinecrest in Idaho Falls on June 11 raised $6,400 for scholarships. The auction at the banquet Wednesday night, Feb. 16 at the Shilo Inn goes to them too.

2004 Scholarship Winners

The committee read 31 applications last spring. The $1,000 scholarships went to Kelsey Hoopes of Rexburg, daughter of Dan and Sherri Hoopes, a freshman at BYU-Idaho in elementary education; Travis Ward of Othello, Wash., grandson of Earl and Betty Ward, at Washington State in ag engineering; Amanda Kliewer of Malin, Ore., daughter of Ron and Deb Kliewer, pre-vet at Oregon State; and Cody Mortensen of Monte Vista, Colo., son of Rick and Lisa Mortensen, at Colorado State in soil and crop sciences. The $500 ag student scholarship went to Jeremy Olsen of Shelley, son of Mike and Tammy Olsen, in his second year of ag mechanics at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.