Skagit County Potatoes Pt 2
I'm Bob Larson. Northwest potato lovers, and really who isn't, have a great supply of red, gold, purple, whites and even fingerlings right under their noses in Skagit County.Sterling Hill Farms partner Tony Wisdom says they grow a wide variety of potatoes, but not russets ...
WISDOM ... "No russets in Skagit. All red, all yellow, all white, or fingerlings. Very few fingerlings. It's reds and yellows and whites. Reds and yellows store and whites pretty much are all fresh out of the field."
In response to why prices have remained flat this year, Wisdom says ...
WISDOM ... "Oh, there's just a lot of supply on the market right now and, you know, I think it was a pretty good bumper crop for everybody across the country most of the year. I do understand there may have been some weather issues in the Midwest around the Red River Valley or east of the Red River Valley during harvest, some rain, but I don't know that for sure so I don't know how that crop ended up."
So, are those Skagit County potatoes we see in the grocery store? ...
WISDOM ... "Yeah, they could. There's also some reds in the Midwest and there's yellows around the country, but I think kind of what we're known for in Skagit County, of course, is a premium skin finish with a bright shiny color and all that. I think a little, maybe a little bit better than some of the other areas around the country."
And, Wisdom says we'll be back at it again before we know it ...
WISDOM ... "Ground works starts in mid-to-late March and we'll start planting in, you know, early April, usually."
In general, Skagit County growers harvest 8-to-9-thousand acres of potatoes annually.