The Farmer Exchange
Linking Farmers in Sustainable Agriculture
Volume 17, Winter 2009
Idaho Icon – the Potato – is Going Organic
With sturdy potato vines twining
around his leather boots, Kris Taylor leans
on his spade above a pile of just-dug
organic spuds and grins. Then he shares
his philosophy as a relatively new organic
farmer, in his second year of growing
organic potatoes.
“I like organic. It’s real easy: You just
don’t do anything. Then you get a better price
with a smaller yield and do well at the end of
the day.” He’s not entirely serious, but he’s not
joking, either. This year, his sales of organic
russets to Potandon Produce, sold under the
Green Giant label, were worth twice what he
got for commercially grown spuds last year: $5
per hundredweight for commercial, $9.50 for
organic.
The third generation farmer with
Howard Taylor & Sons (HT&S) grows both
organic and conventional spuds and hay,
conventional barley, wheat and corn on more
than 20,000 acres southwest of Idaho Falls.
For decades, families working the
area’s sandy, volcanic soil have produced the
“famous potatoes” for which Idaho is so well
known. Recently, some spud growers here have
begun looking at organic management.
Getting into Organic
Taylor says his family got interested in
organics in 2004 because they have cattle and
organic beef was bringing in a premium price.
“We changed our minds on organic
cattle real quick, though. You could do it with
50 cows, but we had 3,000 mother cows, and
that was too many—we had a co-mingling
Kris Taylor grew his second organic potato crop in 2008 near
Idaho Falls, Idaho.
problem.” Taylor’s family realized it was too
difficult to keep such a large number of organic
cattle separate from conventional cattle, which
are treated with nonorganic products.
“But that experience got us turned onto
organics,” says Taylor. The family had also
been talking about organic crops and in 2004
they started transitioning ground with alfalfa,
but didn’t sell anything until a couple of years
later when they developed a marketing plan
with Jeff Bragg at Potandon Produce.
Taylor says although his family used to
market all of their own produce, they decided
to go with Potandon to market organic potatoes
because of the Green Giant label. “With
organic, you almost have to have a label to sell
or you’re limited to farmer’s markets—there’s
no steady market unless you have a label.”
In their second year with organic spuds,
Taylor says the farm is getting better profit than
Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
“Our organic rotation plan is two years of
spuds, then a grain, then alfalfa for three years. If
weeds get really bad, we rogue it. We get right on
Canadian thistle. But alfalfa knocks that back quick
— you can eliminate it in two years just by using
hay. Or use mustard cover crops.”
Taylor says that crop rotation can also help
with pests and diseases and he hasn’t had much
trouble with either. “This field was a piece of cake
because it had previously grown alfalfa, so nitrogen
was high when we began, and the field was weedand disease-free.” He also noted the lack of pressure
from Colorado potato beetles, because the field is so
isolated.
Crop rotation also plays a part in nutrient
management, by eliminating phosphorus
accumulation in the soil from cattle manure-based
compost.
“We have been using compost for about
five years on everything, even on our conventional
ground,” says Taylor. “We apply 10 to 12 tons per
acre on organic fields, three to five tons an acre
on conventional, depending on the crop. We need
compost for nitrogen and organic matter, but if we
compost regularly, we get phosphorus build-up.”
Taylor says that University of Idaho
researchers worry about phosphate climbing above
40 parts per million in his area, but that a hay
rotation depletes phosphorus.
Kris Taylor and Jeff Bragg from Potandon Produce evaluate the potato
crop during a test dig in August.
last year with cheap wheat and conventional spuds.
“We have 1,000 acres in organic potatoes
and hay now and we’ll add 150 acres of organic
wheat next year,” he says. They hope to have about
2,000 acres of organic farmland, eventually.
The Farmer Exchange
Organic Markets
Experimenting and taking risks are all in a
day’s work for organic growers — it’s not a job to
be taken lightly, even though the market for organic
products is increasing at nearly 20 percent a year.
Photograph courtesy of Diane Ronayne
Organic Weed and Pest Management
Taylor’s family plants Norkotahs, an
early russet sold for the fresh market, as well
as Burbanks. “We like to plant late because
the planting date is important in organic weed
management,” says Taylor. “If you plant early when
the soil is cold, weeds come up first, and you have
to cultivate more.”
By planting later, Taylor is able to avoid
competition from early germinating grasses.
“Potatoes are a good ground cover that will shade
out weeds if the potatoes get established first.
I didn’t even have to rogue the organic potato
field—we just cultivated it twice and once with the
Dammer Diker.” The Dammer Diker is a piece of
tillage equipment that improves water infiltration
and also removes weeds between rows. Taylor’s
family did one harrow before emergence, one
cultivation, and one Dammer Diker to control the
warm-weather weeds such as pigweed.
This year they planted in early June. They
killed the vines in late September by mowing them
and harvested the potatoes in mid-October.
Crop rotation is another key to successful
organic weed control. Leguminous cover crops like
alfalfa not only trap nitrogen in the sandy soil where
plants can use it the next season, but help with weed
control.
Alec McErlich of Small Planet Foods advises Kris Taylor about
organic weed control methods at a field day in September.
Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
volume 17, page 2
volume 17, page 3
Photograph courtesy of Matt Henninger
“The market is offering very good prices
for organic grain now,” Taylor says, “so we’ll do
150 acres in organic wheat next year. But the first
year with organic grain can be a wreck, figuring out
how to keep the weeds out. And with spuds, you’re
competing for consumers, so size and quality matter.”
Organic potato wholesalers prefer 6- to
9-ounce potatoes, but about half Taylor’s crop
doesn’t meet this standard. With no organic
dehydration processing available locally, these good
but not-so-pretty potatoes are sold to organic dairies
or feedlots as cattle feed for a lot less than organic
fresh potatoes would fetch for human consumption.
“There are processing facilities nearby, but
they are not organic,” Taylor explains. “Some could
be, if we had a big enough block of organic potatoes
at the same time to run efficiently, but that’s tough to
do now. You have to clean a conventional dehydrator
line out to run organic. Processing plants are geared
up for big sheds—maybe 10,000 sacks a day. Organic
sheds are small, running relatively few sacks a day.
After you wash them and they’re wet, spuds have
to go to either a processor or a feedlot right away.
It would be hard to get enough together from the
organic producers to fill a line for very long.”
Under federal law, if quality and quantity
are available, farmers need to use organically grown
seed stock, which is a challenge to Taylor and other
organic spud growers. He says growers can’t get
quality organic seed in large enough quantities today.
But that could change as national demand continues
to expand, according to experts like Alec McErlich,
agricultural R&D manager for Small Planet Foods
(General Mills’ organic foods division), who advises
organic growers.
“A sizeable section of the market is
demanding organic produce,” says McErlich.
He points out that more than two in three, or
69 percent, of U.S. consumers buy organic and 12
percent buy organic on a weekly basis, according to
the 2008 report by the Hartman Group.
“There’s a little slowdown now but
annual growth in the organic food and beverage
market is still 17 to 18 percent (it’s 3 percent for
conventionally grown). The United States still has
a relatively small percentage of organic acres, but
it’s growing. And there’s a trickle-down effect on
conventional agriculture. In wheat management, for
example, there has been a huge increase in herbicide
Potandon Produce located in Idaho Falls, Idaho sells organic
potatoes, including those grown by Kris Taylor, with its organic
Green Giant logo.
resistant weeds, and growers are saying, ‘What can
we do?’ That leads them to do more mechanical
cultivation, which can be more economical than
using chemicals, even with the cost of gas. And don’t
forget: Pesticides are petroleum-based, too!”
Jeff Bragg with Potandon Produce in Idaho
Falls agrees with McErlich’s prediction.
“As the largest shipper of Idaho potatoes
and the largest marketer of potatoes in North
America, we sell to retail grocery chains and food
service companies everywhere. Our customers are
demanding we provide organic,” says Bragg. But he
adds that some areas need work.
“Organic agronomy in Idaho is in its infancy.
Field men don’t understand organic products. As
production increases, agronomy will become more
important. Idaho is a natural place to promote organic
agriculture, but we need the kind of framework
conventional farmers have: growers, fertilizer
dealers, buyers and processors who work together.”
While a handful of Idaho farmers have been
growing organic potatoes for decades, less than 0.1%
of Idaho’s potato acres have been organic. Organic
potato acres increased from a few hundred to just
more than 1,000 acres in the last two years, as Taylor
and other farmers have transitioned.
Taylor’s advice to growers considering a
move to organic is to be realistic.
“Don’t expect high yields and high quality,
starting out. There’s a lot of learning the first couple
of years. What I’ve seen is expect less yield but get
more money out of organic — anything organic.”
Boise-based free-lance writer Diane Ronayne is a
frequent contributor to The Farmer Exchange.
Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
The Farmer Exchange
The Farmer Exchange
Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
P.O. Box 1393
Eugene, OR 97440-1393
Additional Resources:
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas
(http://www.attra.ncat.org/organic.html).
Includes “Potatoes: Organic Production and Marketing”
– to be released winter 2008, “Organic Regulation,
Certification, Transition & History,” “Organic Field
Crops,” “Organic Control of Pests,” “Organic Soils &
Fertilizer Issues,” and “Organic Marketing.”
Idaho State Department of Agriculture 2007 Organic
Directory
(http://www.agri.state.id.us/Categories/PlantsInsects/
Organic/OrganicFormsReportsPubs.php).
Lists organic producers, handlers, and publications on
certification.
Organic and Alternative Methods for Potato Sprout
Control in Storage
(http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/pdf/CIS/CIS1120.pdf)
Mary Jo Frazier, et al. University of Idaho Extension.
2004.
Organic Fertilizer Calculator: A tool for comparing
the cost, nutrient value, and nitrogen availability of
organic materials
(http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/organic-fertilizercalculator)
N. Andrews and J. Foster. Oregon State University. 2007.
Contains a fertilizer calculator and a user guide.
OSPUD Participatory Organic Potato Project
(http://ospud.org/node).
Contains the following publications: “What’s Wrong
with my Potato Tubers?,” “Estimating N Mineralization
in Organic Potato Production,” and “Flea Beetle Pest
Management in Organic Potato Production.”
NONPROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE
PAID
EUGENE OR
PERMIT NO. 672
Pest Management Strategic Plan for Organic Potato
Production in the West
(http://www.ipmcenters.org/pmsp/index.cfm)
Available December 2008. This plan highlights the pest and
weed management practices used by organic potato farmers
in five western states and identifies and sets priorities for
organic potato research and education.
Resource Guide for Organic Insect and Disease
Management
(http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/resourceguide/).
Brian Caldwell, et al. Cornell University. 2005. This guide
includes cultural practices and materials for organic insect
and disease management in potatoes.
For more information on NCAP’s sustainable agriculture program, contact Jennifer Miller at (208) 850-6504
or [email protected]. NCAP’s main office address
is P.O. Box 1393, Eugene, OR 97440. (541) 344-5044.
www.pesticide.org.
The publication of this newsletter was made possible through the
dues of our members and financial support from the following
businesses:
Frontier Natural Products Co-op – specializing in natural and
organic herbs and spices. Norway, Iowa. www.frontiercoop.com
(800-669-3275)
Magic Valley Compost – offering a nutrient rich soil amendment in
bulk and bag, and custom composting. Jerome, Idaho.
www.magicvalleycompost.com (208-324-4536)
Montana Microbials – developing and manufacturing biological
controls for crop diseases. Missoula, Montana. (406-544-1176)
NuEarth – providing beneficial soil microorganisms for plant
growth and health. American Falls, Idaho. www.nuearthllc.com
(866-683-2784)
Pharmgrade Compost – providing compost, organic transition
and consulting services. Idaho Falls, Idaho. www.pharmgrade.net
(800-725-9578)
Sustainable Growth Idaho – supplying organic fertilizers, liquid
compost, equipment and consulting. Boise, Idaho.
www.sgidaho.com (888-922-GROW)