Potatoes are a basic food in the United States and foreign countries. They are produced by many individual potato growers in every State in the United States and imported into the United States from foreign countries. In 1966, there were one million four hundred and ninety-seven thousand acres of cropland in the United States devoted to the production of potatoes.

Terms Used In 7 USC 2611

  • individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
  • potatoes: means all varieties of Irish potatoes grown by producers in the 50 States of the United States, and grown in foreign countries and imported into the United States. See 7 USC 2612
  • promotion: means any action taken by the National Potato Promotion Board, pursuant to this chapter, to present a favorable image for potatoes to the public with the express intent of improving their competitive positions and stimulating sales of potatoes and shall include, but shall not be limited to, paid advertising. See 7 USC 2612
  • State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7

Potatoes and potato products move in the channels of interstate or foreign commerce, and potatoes which do not move in such channels directly burden or affect interstate commerce in potatoes and potato products.

The maintenance and expansion of existing potato markets and the development of new or improved markets are vital to the welfare of potato growers and those concerned with marketing, using, and processing potatoes as well as the general economic welfare of the Nation.

Therefore, it is the declared policy of the Congress and the purpose of this chapter that it is essential in the public interest, through the exercise of the powers provided herein, to authorize the establishment of an orderly procedure for the financing, through adequate assessments on all potatoes harvested in the United States for commercial use and imported into the United States from foreign countries, and the carrying out of an effective and continuous coordinated program of research, development, advertising, and promotion designed to strengthen potatoes’ competitive position, and to maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets for potatoes and potato products.