Photos: Day 1 of Idaho potato harvest tour
A former chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America, Eric Meisel of Gordon Food Service reveled in the mountain of potatoes — taller than three people standing on each other's shoulders — in the shed at Wada Farms in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
"I'm going to go back home and make a presentation to my division of about 100 salespeople," Meisel said on the tour bus between farm stops. "It will give them more education and appreciation for what they sell."
Meisel, Gordon Food Service produce culinary specialist of the greater Ohio region, was part of a group of professionals in produce, foodservice, wholesale and broadline distribution on an Idaho Potato Commission harvest tour Sept. 25-27. About 30 people from as far as Washington state to Florida toured five farms, packinghouses and storage sheds.
They learned about russet burbank, russet norkotah, yellow goddess and red potatoes, among others, from the dirt to the poly bag, mesh bag or cardboard carton. The focus for this trip was on potatoes heading to foodservice customers.
These are some of the many sights and scenes caught on the first day of the tour.
Rigby Produce, Rigby, Idaho
Bryan Mickelsen of Rigby Produce talked to the tour participants about how his dad and uncles started the company in the 1970s and how a nearby land and facility purchase a couple years ago has doubled the company's capacity, today shipping about 3 million pounds of potatoes to the fresh market each day.
Rigby Produce's handles a mix of russet norkotah and russet burbank varieties.
This Rigby Produce truck can hold about 150,000 pounds of potatoes.
Sun-Glo, Sugar City, Idaho
Carson Crapo, 23, is part of the fifth generation to run his farm, Sun-Glo of Idaho, which has about 50,000 acres including cover crops like wheat. He is on one of 13 digging crews using a GPS-powered digger to harvest potatoes.
The volcanic soil, cool evenings and arid climate make for a great potato growing, farmers in Idaho say.
The Idaho Potato Commission tour group paused for a group shot at Sun-Glo's potato field.
Tron Crumly, who handles sales for Sun-Glo of Idaho, explained how the potato storage shed can hold about 7.5 million pounds of potatoes and that the metal pipes keep the pile ventilated.
"It's just like a gaming joystick, this Spudnick piler," Crumly said about the red-painted equipment that spread potatoes into the shed from a conveyor belt.
Sun-Glo owner and manager Cade Crapo welcomed the tour group to his hangar for a cheeseburger lunch made with local beef and french fries from potatoes plucked from the dirt four hours earlier.
Bench Mark Potato Co., Rexburg, Idaho
Kent Sutton shared about his family farm, which has about 375 acres, that's part of the Bench Mark cooperative of five growers. They do about 85% foodservice and 15% retail, he said, harvesting about 4 million pounds of potatoes a day.
"We sell what we actually grow," Sutton said. "It's more than just a business. It's a heritage. Family."
Amin Panjwani, who buys and sells potatoes and onions for S. Katzman Produce at Hunts Point Produce Market in New York, surveyed the potato sizes and quality at the Bench Mark facility.
For many growers, like those part of Bench Mark, russet norkotah potatoes are becoming more popular.
Kent Sutton of Bench Mark showed the tour group the poem his daughter wrote, copied on the wall of the packing shed office hallway.
