Potato Research Advisory Committee

The Potato Research Advisory Committee (PRAC) strengthens and advances research that benefits potato growers and the broader industry. Formed in 2016, PRAC builds consensus around the industry’s most pressing challenges and mobilizes the research community to pursue innovative solutions.

To achieve these goals, PRAC:

Facilitates national collaboration between researchers and growers to enhance knowledge exchange and research impact
Identifies high-priority research needs from a potato grower’s perspective
Evaluates and endorses select research proposals that align with PRAC’s standards and deliver nationwide value.

Since its inception, PRAC has increased the industry’s ability to mobilize behind research projects with strong scientific merit and strategic relevance. Its focused facilitation has secured more substantial and consistent funding from the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), delivering $38.8M in total SCRI financing from 2016 to 2024.

Researchers often speak of PRAC’s ability to advance proposals with broad industry support and generating a substantial body of letters of support to greatly benefit the funding review process.

Learn How PRAC Is Advancing Potato Production

Watch Video

How PRAC Reviews Non-SCRI Proposals

Step 1: Request Proposal

PRAC requests lead scientists to submit a 2-page “pre-proposal” and a draft of the full proposal, if available.

Step 2: Vet the Project

The committee seeks confirmation from a state association manager to ensure the proposal aligns with state-level priorities. It also consults experienced industry members familiar with the topic area.

Step 3: Review and Recommed

PRAC reviews the pre-proposal and proposal, which generally takes a week and can include questions and recommendations, before providing an endorsement. These insights are often highly valuable to scientists refining their proposals.

How PRAC Reviews SCRI Proposals

Step 1: Solicit Proposals

SCRI funding is a focal point for PRAC due to its alignment with specialty crops and the magnitude and length of the awards. Each year, PRAC solicits research topic suggestions from state potato organizations and their research committees, national potato organizations, and other industry partners.
Scientists who are members of the Potato Association of America (PAA) receive notification of PRAC’s interest in reviewing their proposals.
PRAC then narrows the submissions to a small number of broad, nationally relevant research focus areas. The focus areas are made widely available to the research community and within the industry.

Step 2: Vet Proposals

The committee vets the submitted proposals, identifying a limited number of high-priority, high-quality, and nationally relevant research projects that address the industry-identified research focus areas. This vetting process typically includes a virtual interview with the lead scientist.

Step 3: Provide Letters of Support

PRAC helps identify and secure a substantial number of letters of support from the industry.
- For SCRI projects, the goal is to assemble more than 50 letters to help the scientific team deliver a strong proposal. For other funding sources, this goal is scaled back based on available time, the size of the funding request, and the science team’s needs.

The voting membership consists of the following:

Five growers from the Potatoes USA Research Committee, one of whom serves as the Chair of PRAC.
Five growers, representing all four time zones among them, from the National Potato Council (NPC) Grower Outreach and Industry Research Committee, plus the committee chair.
Four state potato association managers representing all four time zones.

Where possible, state managers on the committee serve four years. This committee is re-nominated each year.

Industry members with scientific expertise or interest in evolving science trends are permitted as non-voting participants at PRAC meetings.