The chief executive officer of the bankrupt Lake Diefenbaker Potato Corporation readily admits he and his managers knew virtually nothing about growing potatoes when they launched their company.
And he admits this caused his company problems.
But in an interview, Mark Langefeld said Sask Water created the situation by alienating the experienced potato growers that LDPC relied upon.
“When we came in as investors, Sask Ida Farms was going to be running (production),” said Langefeld. “Sask Water did an excellent job of destroying our infrastructure.”
Read Also
Interest in biological crop inputs continues to grow
It was only a few years ago that interest in alternative methods such as biologicals to boost a crop’s nutrient…
The LDPC was a private company that grew potatoes in the Lake Diefenbaker area in 1997 and 1998. It went bankrupt in May 1999. Sask Ida Farms was a company put together by two Idaho potato growers who operated in Saskatchewan in the early 1990s.
Sask Water runs the province’s irrigation system, financed a $23 million network of potato storage, and backed LDPC’s attempts to massively expand Saskatchewan’s potato acreage.
Langefeld said he assured investors that LDPC had experience to back up its potato growing ambitions because one of its original partners, Sask Ida Farms, was a well-established potato production company operating in Saskatchewan and Idaho.
Sask Ida Farms did help LDPC grow its 1997 crop, but wasn’t involved in the 1998 crop. In 1998 Sask Ida sued LDPC over equipment and facilities it said LDPC had agreed to pay for, but hadn’t.
Langefeld said things deteriorated after Sask Water sued Sask Ida in a dispute over seed potatoes the crown corporation said it never received.
“It just started a domino effect,” said Langefeld. “These guys all of a sudden get sued and they lash out. So they started suing the government, started suing us.”
But Harvey Fjeld, the man who managed Spudco from 1996 to late 1998, said the lawsuit between Sask Water and Sask Ida Farms was just a business arrangement that didn’t work out and was taken to court.
The legal fight between LDPC and Sask Ida was much more intense, Fjeld said.
In a recent interview, Randy Bauscher, one of the two main partners in Sask Ida, said the dispute with the LDPC became ugly.
And he said Langefeld often didn’t listen to him or his partner, George Grant.
“When we were involved we tried to tell him a few things and he
wouldn’t listen,” said Bauscher.
