Green Thumb Farms looks for strong crop, highlights variety identity in marketing efforts

The Maine crop was harvested and under cover with great quality, said Mike Hart, director of sales and marketing for Fryeburg, Maine-based Green Thumb Farms Inc.

The company’s potatoes are grown at the base of Mount Washington, about 90 miles north of Boston.

The firm has about 65% yellow or gold varieties, 10% russet, 15% whites and the balance accounted for by specialty varieties, he said.

“We got a very nice yield,” Hart said. “We were fortunate because we were able to get another storage up before we started putting potatoes away, so we had enough storage space.”

Creating memorable varieties

Modeling the apple industry’s introduction of premium varieties, Green Thumb Farms has taken the same approach for potatoes in a program called Farmers First.

The traditional approach to selling potatoes is to identify them by the generic categories of reds, whites, golds and russets. Hart said he thinks there is room in the market for differentiation and to create consumer devotion to specific varieties.

“There are some varieties that we believe perform better than others, and the Farmers First program allows us to bring those varieties into the light and let the customer pick and choose what they like,” Hart said.

Now in its third season on the market, the Queen Anne variety is a smooth-skinned, longer yellow-skinned potato with yellow flesh.

The variety has an attractive waxy skin, bakes well, mashes with good results and does wonderful as an oven fry, Hart said.

Last year, the company introduced another niche variety called Fenway Red, which has a red-hued skin and firm texture that makes it an excellent choice for pan-frying, mashing and roasting recipes.

This year, the company also is unveiling a premium white variety and is working with a local supermarket this year for limited offerings in 2-pound bags. Called the Noya White, the potato boasts a waxy skin, an earthy flavor and works well in stews, he said.

The 2-pound bag is a great choice for retailers to add sales to consumers who already are purchasing a 5-pound bags of generic potatoes want to try a new variety.

After a premium variety wins consumer favor, it can be marketed either as a private-label option or with Green Thumb’s Country Roots label in 4- or 5-pound bags. Then the variety can be part of a retailer’s every day or seasonal offerings, he said.

Green Thumb Farms also is looking to identify a russet variety that could be differentiated at the consumer level, Hart said.

Cut the plastic

Buyers are interested in reducing plastic usage, and Hart said Green Thumb Farms is working with a packaging company to look at alternative options that will allow plastic to bio-assimilate in the environment.

“We’re trying to figure out ways to keep everybody competitive price-wise, while meeting the demands of the consumer and the environmental demands of everybody,” he said.

Green Thumb Farms also offers its Cold River Gold potatoes in a paper compostable bag that four or five chains in New England have picked up, Hart said.