MELITA, Man. – It started as a patch of potatoes Don Williams tucked in beside his canola field so his kids could run a roadside stand selling new potatoes each summer.
But it’s turning into one of the most promising diversification opportunities people in these parts have seen in decades.
That little patch of spuds, which blossomed under the irrigation water Williams has been using to produce canola in recent years, taught him two things.
“We knew that potatoes would grow here and we could dig them quite easily,” he said. That is, in part, what gave Williams the courage to try expanding.
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This year, Williams is growing 80 acres of processing potatoes under irrigation as part of an experimental arrangement with the Carberry-based Carnation Foods Ltd.
The project, which involves Williams and one other area grower, is designed to see whether Carnation can increase the area devoted to growing processing potatoes in the province.
Two-fold gamble
It’s a two-fold gamble for this parched region of southwestern Manitoba. It involves not only a new crop, but a relatively new production technique as well.
Williams is one of only a handful of farmers in the area who have experience with irrigation technology, and he considers himself far from being an expert.
He established the first of four pivots on his farm in 1979 and now has about one-quarter of his 1,650 acres under irrigation. The water comes from the Souris River under permit from the provincial government.
Until now, he’s stuck to supplying artificial rain to traditional crops for the region – wheat, barley and canola.
He is devoted to the technology because it gives him an added sense of control over what happens to the crops he sows each spring.
“We’re not just at the mercy of the weather. My father … he spent most of his life looking to the west hoping a thunderstorm would roll this way.”
But the success so far in terms of profits has been questionable.”Just because we water, doesn’t mean we are any better off than other farmers.”
Although his land costs are relatively low, his operating costs, which include $25 per acre for electricity alone, are high and cannot be trimmed. If he reduced his level of inputs on the irrigated land, “we’d probably be worse off.
“There is not even a system for crop insurance for irrigation in Manitoba.”
Williams estimates he needs $200 per acre to cover costs. “Even if we do grow 100 bushel (per acre) barley, it’s been hard getting $2 (per bushel) for the barley.”
Canola, which has yielded up to 45 bushels per acre under irrigation, was the best bet – until potatoes came along. “Now we’re driving by (the canola) to look at the potatoes.”
Although production costs are about double that of traditional crops, potatoes yield a gross return that is between $1,000 to $1,400 per acre, depending on yield.
Williams and Reston-producer Grant Fotheringham teamed up to share equipment for this year’s project. The pair linked up with Carnation, which has been hoping to expand its production base in Manitoba to meet the ever-increasing demand for fast-food french fries.
The company has supplied the seed on credit, provided technical advice and will take delivery direct from the field.
Area has potential
Company officials told a recent field-day seminar here they believe the Melita area shows promise. It has higher heat units than the company’s current production base around Carberry and it has soils which are conducive to potato production.
“I think there’s a lot of potential,” said Carnation’s operations director, Joe Nicholson.
In the short-term, he’d like to see the company’s 20,000-acre production base in the province increased by ten percent.
But whether that happens in the Melita area will depend on whether the company likes the processing quality of the potatoes produced here and whether there are enough farmers who can tap into enough irrigation water to make it work.
