CRANFORD, Alta. – The potato on that holiday season plate probably had its origins three years ago.
No, that doesn’t mean the potatoes on the plate are three years old. Their origins are.
“We buy our seed potatoes from a grower and he would have started that line three years before,” potato producer Bill Tamminga said in an interview. “When we get it, it is ready to be planted.”
In 2006, he was designated the top producer for McCain Foods in southern Alberta, where the Coaldale McCain plant produces french fries and other products for the Canadian market and the world.
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“We really enjoy the industry,” he said. “It is forward looking. There are lots of farmers who grow other things and are sour on the industry, complaining about their political situation, their board or their returns. We are just moving forward.”
It helps that with two processing plants established in the area, the other being Lamb-Weston, potatoes are in demand in southern Alberta. Despite high investment costs for equipment, inputs and storage sheds, returns are high.
On Tamminga’s 200 acres of potatoes, the gross can be $3,300 per acre in an average year and 2006 has been an exceptional year with above-average yields. Costs deducted still leave a healthy profit.
“It is a big investment but the returns are good,” said Tamminga.
The 44 year old moved from Europe to Ontario and then west in 1981, where he married and set up shop. His farm just miles away from the McCain’s Coaldale processing plant includes sugar beets, feed barley, export hay and peas.
The mainstay is the potato crop and because of the uncertainty of farming, faith is part of the business plan for Tamminga.
“We put the potatoes in the ground,” he said. “We wait for them to grow. We pray.”
Of course, there is a lot of human intervention between those steps.
During autumn, the land is worked and hills prepared for planting. In the spring, once a contract is signed with McCain Foods, seed potatoes are put into the hills and over the summer, herbicides and fertilizer are applied. There are weekly sprays for weeds and a regular surveillance on the crop’s progress.
“We have to keep a close eye on it,” said Tamminga.
“Every day, I do my rounds to make sure irrigation is working as it should.”
Once harvested in the autumn, the potato crop is kept in temperature-controlled storage, waiting for an order from the processor.
“We do keep our eye on disease and weather but it usually is a good crop,” he said. “Frost can be the enemy.”
For all that, the potato crop is a mainstay and despite the substantial investment, local processors provide a guaranteed market.
There are rewards for the high-investment, high-maintenance side of the business.
Whatever they can grow, they usually can sell. Whatever they sell ends up on a dinner plate somewhere in Canada or the world.
“We plant it and water it and God makes it grow,” said Tamminga. “Then it depends on the market.”
And on consumers still making potatoes part of their festive meals.
Mashed Potatoes
6 MEDIUM round red, white, long white or new potatoes
Dash salt
2 tbsp. Butter
1/4 cup milk
Peel potatoes and add salt. Boil until tender.
Add butter and milk. Mash or whip with electric beaters.
Mmmmm-mashed potatoes
- Cook potatoes in milk for extra richness.
* Add several peeled garlic cloves, then mash with garlic
- Add several peeled garlic cloves, then mash with garlic
as usual.
- Use baked potatoes for mashed potatoes instead of boiled.
- For lighter potatoes, beat in more milk and leave out the butter.
- Don’t overbeat. It can cause starchy, sticky mashed potatoes.
- Use leftover mashed potatoes to thicken soups and sauces, or dip in beaten egg and crumbs, refrigerate for an hour, and fry until crispy.
- Beat in herbs, seasonings, minced vegetables or grated cheese for added flavour.
Bake a perfect potato
- Stand potatoes on end in muffin tins if you’re baking several.
- Skewer a potato with an aluminum baking pin to cut baking time in half (not in a microwave oven).
- For crispier skins, bake at 425 degrees F
for 45 to 60 minutes.
- Bake extra potatoes and use leftovers for hash browns the next day.
- Rub a little oil, butter, or bacon drippings on potatoes before baking for crispier skins.
- To make wedges, cut leftover potatoes into 1/2-inch pieces and brush with olive oil and seasonings.
- Bake at 425 degrees, turning occasionally, for about 35 to 45 minutes.
