Spudman February 2023 - 32

The farm usually plants on spacing
of 10 to 11 inches, depending on if it's
growing table or chip stock, which is
uncommon.
For planting depth, Moyer sets his
hilling discs aggressively on the planter.
" We plan to go through at least two
times after planting, " he said. " If we
don't have a pretty good hill there from
the start, we actually just end up pulling
it out and impact the seed. We do try to
hill them pretty good. "
Moyer said " a pretty cheap and easy "
cover crop of wheat crimson clover is a
typical approach.
OriGin Farm grows organic potatoes on 400 acres in Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania.
something to make a note of if you go
slathering fields with a lot of manure, "
Moyer said.
Moyer takes soil tests to make a
custom blend of whatever they need to
put in, depending on whether someone
is planting table or chip stock. It's
applied with a standard planter, just like
everybody else.
" We've found it works best if we run
potatoes on our farm, to run them
in a rotation with corn or wheat, " he
said. " We have tried potatoes after sod,
and typically we do not get as good
of a result. We find we get a lot more
wireworm pressure coming in after sod
than in a field that was corn. We always
have a cover crop in. "
MARKETING OUTLETS
Is there a profitable market for
organic potatoes?
" There's lots of places to market
potatoes, " Moyer said. There aren't
thousands of potato growers in
(Pennsylvania). It's a pretty small group
of people. There are brokers. We've
never moved any through a broker. "
Moyer discovered some private
outlets where he could sell his product.
" We feel we're doing a little bit better
that way. We're doing all the grating
and washing. Packing, we like to send
out in 2,000-pound totes. We've packed
almost everything. Be flexible about
your packaging. Whatever your buyer
wants, you have to provide. "
OriGin has packed in three and
five-pound poly/mesh; five, 10 and
50-pound bags, wooden bin boxes,
2,000-pound totes, cardboard melon
boxes and bulk loose.
" Every farm is different. It all depends
how much labor you have, " he said.
Some guys have lots of labor, some have
to buy-in all of it. Figure what your
labor's worth if you're going to put a lot
POTATOEH
Ideal climate, profitable results.
Check out the seed directory at
albertapotatoes.ca
Experience the vigour of the north. With colder
winters and long summer days, Alberta Seed
Potatoes are the best choice for a higher
yielding potato crop.
of extra labor into packing.
" Potatoes are kind of like firewood, "
he said. " There's not a lot of room
for a fingerprint on them anymore.
They're just a lot of work. You can
handle them mechanically, use
conveyors, whatever. There's still a
lot of work in them.
" If you are selling table stock, you're
going to end up with seconds and Bs
and other issues. You should find a
market for it, or you're going to have
all of this junk you've got to store, and
you don't know what to do with. "
32
Spudman * February 2023
https://www.albertapotatoes.ca/
Spudman February 2023

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