OUTLOOK, Sask. – The walnut-sized potatoes that are usually thrown into the compost pile in home gardens are offering commercial growers new markets and better prices.
Driven by trends in Europe and fuelled by increasingly health conscious Canadian consumers moving away from french fries, Saskatchewan growers are considering small potato varieties in their field rotations.
For Broderick, Sask., grower Jacob Vanderschaaf, business is booming.
In seven years, his Edmonton-based Little Potato Co. has gone to $12 million in annual sales from $10,000.
Vanderscaaf, who grew up producing potatoes in Holland, launched his Canadian company and set up a packing plant before moving to the Outlook area and acquiring a large potato shed at Broderick.
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For potential potato growers, Vanderscaaf advised choosing appropriate soils for each potato variety. Heavy soils tend to get lumpy, he said.
Planting close together helps with weed control and chemical application and can also improve yields and preserve moisture.
“The quicker the row closure (grows), the higher the yields,” he said. “Your sun is basically your solar energy for the potatoes, so you want to have the canopy as quick as possible.”
He puts potatoes into a three or four year rotation on a field, with canola, wheat and barley. He is working on a pilot project with alfalfa fields to create a line of certified organic potatoes.
Vanderscaaf said the smaller potatoes require specialized growing expertise and equipment, noting his farm uses machinery from Europe. He uses foliar fertilizers and also applies fertilizer through the irrigation pivot, but is careful not to apply too much nitrogen.
Saskatchewan’s cold winters help keep the potatoes disease free.
He keeps close tabs on potato research produced by the Canada Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre at Outlook. It is examining varieties like Picolo and Baby Boomer that can produce up to 50 potatoes per plant.
“They look like grapes,” he said.
The centre was the site of a potato field day this summer to showcase research efforts.
Vanderscaaf hopes to increase the amount of plantings as markets grow for his company’s products. Spudwyk Farms at Outlook and Bartco at North Battleford, Sask., grow little potatoes under contract for him.
Little Potato Co. sells to restaurants and retailers like Loblaws in Western Canada and is looking to the Pacific Northwest for the future, said Christa Winsnes, sales and marketing manager.
She said the mini potatoes feed consumers’ endless appetite for new products but also represent a healthy, convenient food choice.
“They’re small, they’re healthy, they’re nutritious and they’re quick to cook,” said Winsnes, citing their appeal to busy consumers and those looking to downsize their portion sizes for dietary reasons.
Small and uniform in size, they retail for up to $4.99 for a two pound bag.
Producers grow these potatoes under contract to LPC, which owns the North American rights to the varieties grown, she said. The company’s future focuses on branding its products with unique names and packaging and a new website.
“The idea is to differentiate ourselves from the competition,” said Winsnes. “We want to focus on these (little) varieties and give them a personality.”
Jazeem Wahab, the Outlook research centre’s horticultural crops agronomist, is looking to find optimal agronomy and varieties for prairie fields.
Wahab said the smaller potatoes offer irrigated producers the opportunity to diversify their farm operation and add income.
The early harvest means a shorter growing season and potentially lower costs of production. That leaves time to plant a fall crop to prevent soil erosion.
“It takes a lot of organic matter off the ground and does not leave much behind like a cereal,” he said.
The centre is trying to determine how to maintain soil stability, when to do pre-harvest top kill and what fertilizers are most effective on little potato varieties.
“They are little but we hope they become bigger,” Wahab said.
