Organic programs for potatoes and other products at Wada Farms Marketing Group LLC in Idaho Falls, ID, continue to grow larger every year amid ongoing work to develop ever-better varieties and to fine-tune yields, quality and storability, reports Randy Green in The Packer. “We do that year-after-year to assure that the program continues to evolve in the right direction,” Kevin Stanger, president, told The Packer.
The company also continues its efforts to extend the shipping season for its organic products, with a goal of extending availability as close to year-round as possibler.
The organic programs for russet potatoes are more tried-and-true and more highly developed than those for colored potatoes, Stanger said. The company and its growers do a great job on red and yellow potatoes, but as compared to the russets, the colored varieties offer more opportunity to work on and refine the program.
Wada Farms has tested organic production of many varieties of colored potatoes. They have had good luck with some varieties, while others have been disappointing. But overall, the organic colored potato programs seem to get better every year, and the availability of organic colored potatoes from Wada Farms’ own fields is getting a little longer each year.
Stanger said he expected to be able to offer Idaho-grown organic colored potatoes nine to 10 months this coming season. The potatoes for the 2020 harvest have been planted, and the new crop is expected to be ready to dig by mid- to late-August.
Source: Read the full report in The Packer
Photo: AndNowUKnow
