In a state that has "Famous Potatoes" on its automobile license plates, talk of a potato boycott to protest the tough Idaho abortion bill was barely noticed by spud growers Saturday.
Although the boycott proposal made headlines in Boise, potato farmers don't seem to have received the message so far, said Jeff Feld of Aberdeen, president of Potato Growers of Idaho. "Most of the growers aren't aware of it," he said.One farmer definitely aware of the boycott proposal was state Sen. Mark Ricks, R-Rexburg, who co-chaired hearings on the abortion bill now awaiting enactment with the signature of Gov. Cecil Andrus.
Although Andrus is strongly anti-abortion, he has not indicated if he will sign the legislation approved 25-17 by the Senate Thursday.
Hearing a Wisconsin woman was proposing a boycott on Idaho potatoes, Ricks mentioned a boycott on Detroit cars in return. He added that he wasn't being serious.
In fact Ricks said the potato boycott idea was not being taken seriously at this stage.
The boycott talk could make the decision facing Andrus all the more difficult. He's heard plenty - as have the legislators - from those who oppose the bill.
The boycott idea evidently was started by Anne Gaylor, administrator of the Women's Medical Fund in Madison, Wis., which helps indigent women receive abortions. She said everyone buys potatoes and the major food shoppers are women, so "we don't have to sit on our hands."
The talk comes at a time when Idaho potato growers have wrapped up one of their best years, and are looking forward to another big one. Prices have set record highs - double or even quadruple those in recent years.
A field manager for one of the big processors said people who never had grown potatoes before were trying to get started.
"I don't think potatoes have anything to do with the abortion bill," he said. "I don't think potato farmers should be punished for whatever the legislative officials decide."
Ricks said legislators from all walks of life voted for the abortion bill, which would ban all abortions except in cases of rape, incest, profound fetal deformity or threat to the life or health of the mother.
A prominent potato grower opposed to the bill said he thought the Legislature "is dumber than a stump for passing that bill."