The Potato Underground — Discover the Goodness of America's Favorite Vegetable

By Bart Connors 

Over the last few years, all the negative publicity surrounding potatoes had even growers starting to doubt if potatoes fit into a healthy lifestyle, but it looks like things are about to change.  The potato industry  is launching a major new campaign both to communicate the potato’s nutritional value and to remind consumers how much they love them.

After seeing all of the work and research that went into the creation of our new Nutrition Campaign, I am totally excited.  I hope consumers agree that “Potatoes . . . Goodness Unearthed™” is a message that not only gives them confidence in the nutritional value of the potato but also gives a sense of the emotional ways in which potatoes enrich our lives.  I think this message communicates what both growers and consumers have in common - we all are looking for healthy, wholesome food for our families and ourselves. 

So, now that we have this new message, what do we do?

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 By Linda McCashion 

 
Browned Butter Smashed Potatoes with Butternut Squash

For many of us, fall is a favorite time of year because of its spectacular scenery and generally great weather (and then there are pumpkins, goblins and apple cider). Potato growers often say it is their favorite time of year because that is when the majority of potatoes are harvested, and they see the results of their labor. Checking in with some potato growers around the country, we received the following updates:

Above photo: Mike Baginski of Wisconsin, hard at work.

Steve Diercks of Coloma, Wisconsin (October 9)
“In Wisconsin we finished our harvest on schedule.  We had a spell of 85 degree weather and were a little worried about storage, but it has since cooled off to 55.  Both the quality and size of the crop are good.  Overall, no one is upset about it.” 

Roger Mix of Center, Colorado (October 9)
“We’re 70-80% done.  A few will finish the end of this week; others will finish early next week.  We want to be finished by October 15th, as that’s when it starts getting cold.  The quality is really good, but the yields are down because of the frost and wind damage we had in June.”

Tom Qualey of Sherman Mills, Maine (October 10)
“We had the driest harvest in years and were very cautious to avoid bruising. The early varieties did well yield-wise; but the later ones are smaller than usual.  The state is 90% done with harvest, and we expect to bring in pretty much 100% of the crop.” 

Bart Connors of Wapato, Washington (October 10)
“Washington’s potato harvest is beginning to wind down, with most of the early and mid season potatoes already harvested.  Only the late season crops of Russet Burbanks, Rangers, Umatillas and Norkotahs are left to dig out of the field.  As a state, the bulk of the harvest will be finished by the middle of October.  Our weather has been almost ideal, with warm days, cool nights and very little rain.  Crop yields have been variable with growers seeing from excellent to fair yields.  The overall quality of the crop is very good with sizing being a little smaller than average.”  

Pete Van Erkel of Hollandale, Minnesota (October 11)
“We’ve had a wet fall, really wet in fact, so the harvest has been slow going.  It takes a little more patience, but the key is the quality of the crop, which is very good. We grow seed, reds and whites and hope to get all wrapped up next week, weather permitting.”

Dale Mickelsen of Rigby, Idaho (October 11)
“Local harvest is 75% complete.  Most everyone will finish early next week.  Area yields are about normal. Our Norkota quality is really good.  We had a snowstorm last week, but this week is just about perfect with 60 degrees for a high.  No concerns about weather.”

Randy Hardy of Oakley, Idaho (October 11)
“Right now 30 of us are waiting around for a new part, which we can’t proceed without.  Harvest is going well though.   We had a couple of storm delays but hope to be done this weekend.  Yield is somewhat average but Burbanks are a little rough because of heat this summer.” 

By Larry Alsum, current chairman of the United States Potato Board

I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, America’s Dairyland, and have always enjoyed farm life. However, I have to confess that during high school I decided I did not want to be a dairy farmer. I grew up milking cows seven days a week, morning and night, and I knew that I did not want to do that the rest of my life. That decision motivated me to go off to college and get a business degree in accounting. When I graduated from college in 1975, I worked for a CPA firm for six years doing auditing and tax work for many small business clients and gained a lot of business background and experience. My wife Paula, a registered nurse (RN), was working at a hospital in the Critical Care Unit. Life was good.

Wisconsin potato fields in the summer.

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