Spudman February 2023 - 14

Mike Pink
Mike Pink spent a lot of his
childhood around farms. He began his
own farming operation in 1987 in the
Columbia Basin in the southeastern
part of Washington State. His
grandparents and his uncle were
farmers, and if you asked him as a kid
what he wanted to be when he grew
up, he would say a farmer.
Or a helicopter pilot.
Pink was about to enroll in school
in order to become a pilot when he
changed his mind at the last moment
and decided to stay home and farm.
He started with 40 acres, none of
which were potatoes, while he was
in community college earning his
agriculture chemistry degree.
It wasn't until he began working
at Wilbur-Ellis with the company's
" potato guru " that he planted 40
acres of potato, sold them and made
a bit of money.
" I thought that was so cool, so the
next year I planted 70 acres, and now
I have 2,500 acres for processing, "
Pink said.
Pink is the founder of Pink Farms
and, along with his wife Davina,
operates a diversified, irrigated farm
that grows field corn, grass seed,
beans, alfalfa hay, timothy hay and
buckwheat. The main crop today is
still potatoes that are dug beginning
in July and finishing in October, and
are directly delivered to several local
processing plants. Along with the
production of row crops, Pink Farms
also runs a cow/calf operation.
Pink has been a sitting member
on many of the larger potato boards.
In the 1990s, he was selected for an
opening at the Washington State
Potato Commission. While there, he
participated in a leadership training
that hosted a tour of the then-called
U.S. Potato Board.
" That got me motivated. I wanted
to get into and do something for the
industry I love, and that has done so
much for my family and myself, " Pink
said. " The rest is history. "
In the last 35 years, Pink has served
on the Washington State Potato
Commission, the National Potato
Council, and was past chairman
of Potatoes USA. He is currently a
Potatoes USA board member, and is
Ken Frost
Ken Frost is focused on something very impactful to potato
yields: pathogens. His concentration is on ecology, epidemiology
and management of pathogens that cause diseases in irrigated
vegetable crops.
The primary goal of Frost's research program is to develop
disease management strategies that minimize disease outbreaks
and enhance crop production efficiency in Oregon, but that are
also practical, economical and environmentally compatible.
The research he conducts seeks to learn how variability in the
environment affects pathogen growth, survival and dispersal,
and influences disease intensity and pattern. Some of his recent
studies have examined how different crop management practices
change the soil microbiome and are associated with varying
disease and yield outcomes. He is also interested to learn how
pathogens and other members of the microbial community
present in tare soils influence microbial community establishment
on potato roots and plant health.
Frost received his M.S. and Ph.D. in plant pathology from the
University of Wisconsin - Madison. He is an associate professor
and Extension plant pathologist in the Department of Botany
and Plant Pathology and located at the Hermiston Agricultural
Research and Extension Center in Hermiston, Oregon.
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Spudman * February 2023
on the board of directors for APRE
and Potato Growers of Washington.
Pink and his wife have loved raising
their three daughters - Danika,
Darbi and Delaney - on the farm,
and look forward to continuing
to grow the farming operation for
the next generation, as they just
welcomed their first grandchild in
April 2022.
Spudman February 2023

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