Red River Valley offers rich environment for potato growing
Red River Valley potatoes are promoted in a big way by the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association.
The association is comprised of over 200 growers and shippers across North Dakota and northwest Minnesota, according to the group's website.
The Red River Valley includes a stretch of land between the rolling plains of North Dakota and the lakes and forests of Minnesota, according to the group's website. The Red River Valley is the bottom of what was once Lake Agassiz, a huge glacial lake even bigger than the Great Lakes, according to the group’s website.
As the huge glacier plowed over the land, it deposited a layer of silt, clay, sand and rock that slowly transformed into the valley’s rich soil.
While red potatoes are the potato that made the Red River Valley famous, the group also notes the region is also a top producer of yellow flesh potatoes for the fresh market.
The Red River Valley is the nation’s largest producer of red potatoes and the third-largest potato-producing region overall, the group says, supplying potatoes for fresh, chip, seed and frozen processing markets.
The Red River Valley potato growers had the first and only grower-owned research farm to study and experiment with variety development, according to the group's website, and growers now fund two research farms, each with different soil types and focused on different growing practices.
Red River Valley Fresh Potato Shippers
- A & L Potato Co., East Grand Forks, Minn.
- Associated Potato Growers Inc., Grand Forks, N.D.
- Campbell Farms, Grafton, N.D.
- Folson Farms, East Grand Forks, Minn.
- H & S FreshPak, Hoople, N.D.
- J.G. Hall & Sons, Edinburg, N.D.
- Heimbuch Potatoes, Cogswell, N.D.
- Lone Wolf Farms, Minto, N.D.
- NoKota Packers, Buxton, N.D.
- O.C. Schulz & Sons Inc., Crystal, N.D.
- Peatland Reds, Inc., Trail, Minn.
- Spokely Farms, Nielsville, Minn.
Source: Northern Plains Potato Growers Association
