Growing and Marketing Organic Potatoes in PEI: Kentdale Farms

By Maggie Hope-Simpson

Fred, Vaunda, and Kent Dollar own and operate a 275 acre family farm known as "Kentdale Farms" in North Winsloe, PEI. The barns, manure stack, grain silo, and older style farmhouse on the property are a reminder of the farm's history as a family-run, predominantly livestock (dairy and beef) farm. Today, the farm produces certified organic potatoes and milling wheat, grown in a five year rotation with hay.

From Transition to Expansion
They began the organic transition process in 1999. The farm obtained organic certification in 2001 with Maritime Certified Organic Growers (MCOG), and since 2003, has been certified with the Organic Crop Producers and Processors (OCPP). Fred's farming background and experience in managing a commercial dairy farm helped with both the farming and business aspects of organic transition. The type of rotations associated with dairy farming, and the fact that ecological farming methods have been used on the farm since 1993, helped to speed the passage to certification. "We'd been farming ecologically for 10 years before we went organic, so it wasn't a big deal to make the transition. We used our pasture, hay, and forage land for the 3 year transition, and gradually brought the upland into production. Going from a dairy operation made it easy - the land was in good fertility and had lots of organic matter. We also had lots of manure".

Scaling up the production of certified organic potatoes and wheat was an incremental but fairly rapid process. Fred notes "We started on a small scale in 1999, and worked our way up to 50 acres of potatoes. We had 30 acres of grain in 2002 and by 2003 we had about 90. In 2001, we built a storage building that will hold 50 acres of potatoes (approximately 500 tons), and a grading and packaging area. It's working well, and it gets the job done".

A Rotation that Works
The crops currently being grown are a good choice from a marketing standpoint. They also make sense in terms of a rotation. "There was a market demand for certified organic potatoes. Along with that, there was a demand for certified organic milling wheat. The two of them worked well in the rotation - it's a five-year rotation of wheat, potatoes, wheat, followed by one or two years of hay. So it's a good fit in terms of the viability of the whole operation". So far, the rotation and field management practices employed are working well: the last two years have brought healthy, vigorous looking crops, low weed, pest and disease pressure, and good crop yields. For example, in 2002 the average potato yield was 225 cwt per acre, and milling wheat was 0.75 ton per acre.

Growing for the Wholesale Market
Fred's potatoes are mostly marketed to Atlantic Wholesalers and Sobey's, in 5 and 10 lb bags bearing the "Kentdale" label, and the milling wheat is marketed to Spearville Mills in Spearville, NB. Fred notes that, in both growing and marketing, even when you know the requirements of your market and buyer, there is always a certain amount of trial and error to determine what does and doesn't work. "We grew a red variety, Norland, for the first time in 2003. We had previously grown Chieftans, but found them to be hard to handle, and the colour faded out too quickly. Norland is an attractive potato with a little harder skin that's not so easily bruised. Goldrush, a long type russet variety, is our main variety. It's a really good all-round potato - good for baking, mashing, good whatever way you want to cook it. Last year, we tried two yellow flesh varieties, Yukon Gold and Fabula. So far, sales have been good." In 2003, for the first time, Fred washed all of the potatoes before bagging them. While this is not required by his buyer, Fred is convinced that washing the potatoes will boost sales. "In May, I had to wash some potatoes for an order in Ontario, so I decided to try washing for the Atlantic Wholesale market. When I did that, the sales increased. So in the fall harvest, we washed right from the start. When you look at the potatoes in the grocery store, the conventional potatoes are all washed. And that's the market we're competing to take a little slice of".

Economics of Organic Potato Production
The economic viability of organic potato production rests largely on the higher price paid to the grower to offset the higher production costs and lower yields for organic vs conventionally grown potatoes. The typically longer rotations of organic potato farms (1 year of potatoes in 4, or 2 in 5) are an added financial strain. Fred believes that the economics of organic potato production are sound, but require a considerable amount of equity, farm management and marketing experience, and hard work. "You need to start out in a sound financial position. You also need to buy and maintain used equipment, rather than buying new. Then, you have to grow a good crop of potatoes, at least 200 cwt an acre, maintain the quality of those potatoes through proper storage, and market them. The economics of it works, but you have to work too. You have to be a good manager, you have to be on top of things..."