Sun-Glo of Idaho expands packing operations

Sugar City, Idaho-based Sun-Glo of Idaho has finished construction on a new addition to its plant, said Jill Crapo Cox, vice president of sales.

“We added three new packing lines and three new loading docks and a new refrigerated staging floor,” Crapo Cox said. “Our new red and gold line is currently under construction,” she said, adding that the target date for completion of that line is the first of the year.

“We are excited to start marketing red and gold potatoes,” she said. 

Sun-Glo of Idaho is a fourth-generation family farm that serves both retailers and foodservice customers, Crapo Cox said.

The company grows its own seed and controls production from “seed to fork,” she said. It also has its own packing shed to pack, and it markets its own crop, she said, adding that Sun-Glo also works with some outside growers/neighbors.

Supply outlook

Sun-Glo planted about the same acreage as last year.

While yields seem to be off compared to last year’s crop in heavy-soil potato fields, Crapo Cox said yields in sandy-soiled fields are equal to last year’s crop.

“Our size profile is looking balanced, not too big and not too small,” she said. 

The tighter expected supplies of potatoes in Idaho are expected to lead to elevated market prices in the 2022/23 season, she said.

“It is very hard to predict what the market will do, but if yields are short and acreage is down, all indications will be it will be higher than usual (prices),” she said. There are still processors and fryers offering growers large amounts of money for their crop, which likely will influence the supply available for the fresh market, Crapo Cox said.