Potatoes in Canada

Features Business & Policy Markets and Marketing
Innovative techniques

Aug. 29, 2014 – Unique, innovative and very successful are three terms that well describe S. Fett Farms. They sell a whopping 27 potato varieties, including several fingerlings (Russian, Apple, French and Peruvian) and ‘Round All Blue’ (blue skin and blue flesh). They are a highly mechanized and lean operation, employing innovative value-added cultivation techniques such as green sprouting and mist irrigation. They sell their harvest all over Ontario, with a bit of U.S. sales as well.

It was back in 1983 that Steve Fett Jr. married Paula and the couple started their own 50-acre potato farm on a new property in LaSalette, Ont. Over the years, the farm grew to its present 600 acres, becoming more and more mechanized all the while.

“Automation is extremely important to our farm,” says Paula. “With minimum wage up from $10.25 to $11 per hour, the cost of paper bags and boxes up eight per cent, and chain stores demanding a one-per-cent decline in prices, we must mechanize in order to make any money.”

The Fetts employ a computer-controlled planter to control seed potato placement. After harvesting, the potatoes are automatically sorted at their washing and sorting facility into jumbos, selects, minis and creamers. At this point, the potatoes go to a state-of-the-art computerized machine that achieves precise pre-determined container weights. The same machine also packages the tubers in bags. “Our building, machinery and storage bins are all made of tin, aluminum, stainless steel or plastic,” says Steve. “We’ve moved away from wood because wood holds bacteria, and having stainless steel means no rust. Everything is very easy to clean.”

A decade after starting their farm in 1983, Steve and Paula decided to use green sprouting to accelerate the growth process. “It speeds up the harvest by three to four weeks,” says Steve. “Consumers like eating early local potatoes – the minis and the creamers – and we can get an increased price that’s about 15 per cent higher. This offsets the added work and cost of the green sprouting.”

The Fetts used to use greenhouses to start the process, but five years ago, they switched to using barns with grow lights instead. “The barns are insulated and can maintain a constant temperature in any weather,” Steve explains. “It’s definitely more cost-efficient.”

Once the green-sprouted plants are in the field, some years the Fetts use floating fibre as a cover to keep the new crop warm. Some years, the ground is warm enough. Should there be worry about a frost, they use solid set sprinklers (mist irrigation), which are removed at harvest time.

Eugenia Banks, a potato specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Ministry of Rural Affairs, studied green sprouting in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The study was funded in part by the Ontario Potato Board and involved several private growers. Banks kept tubers in plastic trays under indirect light at 16 C for about three weeks prior to planting, stimulating the growth of short, thick sprouts. Field trials conducted in 2010 and 2011 in partnership with several potato growers showed Dakota Pearl processing potatoes planted using green sprouting were ready for harvest 12 days ahead of the conventionally-planted crop. Similar results were obtained with Superior and Yukon Gold potatoes. “The early hard frost is the big concern,” Banks notes.

Specialty focus
The Fetts started growing specialty varieties in 1998. They ship these and regular varieties to distributors, restaurants and markets all over Ontario, with a small amount to the U.S. Steve says it’s difficult to make export worthwhile because orders are not large enough to cover the costs of the inspection, transport and brokerage fees.

Since most of fingerling are usually small in size, have different maturity, tuber set and vine growth, they require different management than regular potatoes, says Dr. Benoit Bizimungu, a scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The Fetts note that as fingerling varieties stay in dormancy longer and mature later, green sprouting is a must for them. They use a specialty planter to prevent the sprouts from breaking off, but say crop protection product use is the same.

Demand for various nonconventional varieties is on the upswing. “The market for some varieties of fingerling and coloured potatoes has increased between 10 to 15 per cent over the last few years,” Paula notes. “There are more food-conscious consumers out there than ever before, and these varieties are beginning to be used within the service industry, restaurants and at home. People want the anti-oxidants from the coloured parts, and are interested in unconventional colours of peel and flesh and different shapes.”

Steve believes sales for the fingerling and coloured potatoes will continue to increase, but that there may be a decrease in the round potato market. “People don't cook the large meals that they used to as much anymore,” he observes. “Carb consumption has also gone down, so we’re looking at smaller packaging. Part of the move to smaller – and more packaging as well – is for food safety reasons and not to meet consumer demand, so that means added cost without any added sales. But it’s the cost of doing business.”

A good percentage of the varieties that the Fetts grow were developed in Canada, but Steve says there is not much breeding done in Canada compared to that occurring in the U.S. or Europe. “Seed is very expensive and hard to acquire,” he notes. “Most varieties are market-driven and customers demand a smooth skin, no eyes and a clean appearance along with priority for a lower price.”

With taking Yukon Gold as an example, Steve explains that while this is a Canadian variety that people like to buy, it doesn’t provide growers like him with a high yield. “Consumers want these, but they won't pay a price higher than what other yellow-flesh varieties are going for,” he notes. “These other varieties from Europe provide double the yield. People don’t understand this. They just want the Canadian-bred variety, and don’t see why they should have to pay extra.”

Among the things Steve says he likes best about potato farming, is being able to be his own boss and the feeling of accomplishment he gets from growing food for his own family and others. “The saying, 'farmers feed cities,' is so true,” he says.

“Farming potatoes is very competitive,” he adds. “I’d like to see some changes in the marketing system, such as more advertising for local food. The consumers need to know where their food is coming from.”

In terms of future plans, the Fetts plan to go with the flow, grow the profitable varieties and sell to the consumers who are knowledgeable. “We’ll keep a close watch on the trends,” Stever says, “and grow what the buyers want.”

August 29, 2014  By Treena Hein


S. Fett Farms produces nearly 30 varieties of potatoes.

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