POTATOES & ONIONS:
eA f f a i r
A L o v
BY AMY SAWELSON LANDES
I
n a world that celebrates such culinary darlings as microgreens
and Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes and onions are still an
invaluable part of any kitchen. Flavorful, pungent onions and
always comforting potatoes are both so highly nutritious and
versatile they are still essential to any cuisine.
POTATOES
Potatoes found their way to Europe via Spanish ships during the
sixteenth century. After initial disdain, it became apparent the
homely vegetable could grow easily in cooler climes with poor soil
while yielding enough food to sustain whole families and their live-
stock. Northern Europeans developed a taste for potatoesand the
rest is history.
Shrinking Demand Spawns Innovation
Despite consumer interest in healthier eating, consumption rates
for some commodities, including potatoes, have seesawed. Growers
and suppliers in the industry are well aware of this fact, and have
been working to put potatoesin bulk, fresh-cut, and microwave-
ready formsback into the hands of consumers. From school
children and millennials to Gen X and Baby Boomers, theres a
potato for you.
A top draw for spud suppliers is more convenience. Kevin
Stanger, president of Wada Farms Marketing Group, LLC in Idaho
Falls, ID sees many new opportunities in packaging that address
convenience. Our Microwave in Bag line features graphics that
74 Blueprints | Jan/Feb/Mar 2017
Still indispensable with
new varieties and fresh-cut products
highlight the timesaving convenience to consumers, he says. The
company also offers several potato and package sizes to align with
household size.
The growth of low carbohydrate diets such as Atkins and South
Beach have also been a factor in potato consumption. Promoting
protein over starches, many believe these diets contributed to a
nearly 25 percent decline in all forms of potato consumption.
Ed Romanelli, vice president for sales and marketing at Chicago-
based Agrow Fresh Produce, Inc., opines, Consumers tend to take
what they see and hear in the media as fact and many of todays diets
have demonized potatoes and carbohydrates. Potatoes are a health-
ful, almost perfect foodlow in calories and high in potassium and
Vitamin C, but the challenge is getting this message to the public.
Other foods vie for the limited amount of carbs people are will-
ing to put on their plates. Besides rice and pasta, Potatoes also have
to compete with cauliflower, being marketed as a substitute, points
out Harris Cutler, president of Race-West Company in Clarks
Summit, PA.
Hot Potato(es)
Potatoes USA, a trade group that supports the nations commer-
cial potato growers, categorizes the over 100 commercially-grown
potato varieties into seven types: russet, red, white, yellow, blue/
purple, fingerling, and petite. While 46 percent of potatoes grown
are the familiar russets, growers have been experimenting with new
cultivars developed from red, white, gold, and blue potatoes.
Gianfranco Franzone, partner at the Toronto, ON division of
Nogales Arizona Sky Produce, Inc., observes, In the last year, weve
sold a lot of red B potatoes, especially for foodservice. The smaller
size is really appealing to consumers.
Cutler, too, is enthusiastic about new potato varieties. There are
new apple varieties being developed all the timesome of which
are heirlooms being rediscovered. Thats a trend with potatoes, too.
There are two redsViking, which is being grown in Texas, and
Pontiac, which tastes delicious but has big eyes. Yukon Golds were
new to most people in the 1980s, but now theyre staples.
Weve made a significant investment in potato seed and breed-
ing over the last decade, shares Ralph Schwartz, vice president of
sales and marketing at Potandon Produce, LLC in Idaho Falls, ID.
A company subsidiary, SunRain Potato Varieties, continues to work
on developing high-yield, disease- and pest-resistant varieties that
will store well and meet the ever-changing
needs of the marketplace. Some of the
more colorful cultivars from SunRain
include the pink-flesh Vermillion, yellow-
flesh Smiling Rose, and the Blue Belle, a
yellow potato with splashes of purple
around the eyes.
Roy Hinchey is CEO of Thomas Fresh,
Inc., headquartered in Calgary, Alberta.
Were all looking for the next big thing,
he says. We saw 169 different potatoes in
Holland and of those we picked a couple
for their extraordinary taste. The Prima
Gold tastes like it just came out of the
ground even after six months in storage.
This potato boasts a high yield, so it uses
fewer resources.
Theres another potato called Poppy,
Hinchey continues. Its the reddest red
potato youve ever seen and will be ready in
the next couple years. When it goes on the
market, our plan is to donate a portion of
the proceeds to veterans causes in honor of
Remembrance Day, which is Canadas ver-
sion of Veterans Day.
Kendra Mills, marketing manager for
the Prince Edward Island Potato Board in
Charlottetown, believes the bright lights of
our industry are the creamers and colorful
varieties. Theyre flavorful, quick cooking,
and dont have to be peeled.
The PEI Potato Boards general manager,
Greg Donald, sees opportunities with
organic potatoes. So far, organic growers
are meeting the demands of the market.
Theyll increase production as demand
increases. The percentage of organics is still
single digits, but its growing.
Transportation & Shipping Trends
The Idaho Potato Commission reports
65 percent of potatoes are shipped by truck
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and 35 percent by rail. Even though rail
freight can save up to 15 percent to certain
destinations like the Southeast, it can take
considerably longer, explains Paul Dolan,
general manager for Associated Potato
Growers, Inc. in Grand Forks, ND. In the
Northeast, he adds, many receivers are
unable to accept the larger cars used by the
railroads. There is not the freight advan-
tage to the Northeast that there is to the
Southeast.
Stanger makes a similar observation,
finding receivers are taking out rail sidings
because many dont want to hold so much
inventory. Rail is cheaper than trucking,
but there are other factorssuch as
speed of deliverythat can outweigh the
added cost.
Challenges and Competition
Whether its competition from other
foods or other regions, potato growers
must be keenly aware of timing and mar-
ket trends to stay successful. For Art
Peterson, president of Peterson Bros.
River Valley Farms, Inc. in Big Lake MN,
the challenge is from other states. When
we start our harvest at the end of July,
were competing with Texas potatoes.
Wisconsin begins about a week after us,
then theres always the challenge of find-
ing enough labor.
The issue of labor is on everyones
mind. With low unemployment, workers
have other options, remarks Stanger.
Minimum wage is on the rise but crop
prices are hovering where they were 20
years ago. As for competition, Stanger
sees it on two fronts: In Idaho, besides
competing against each other, were com-
peting against other states. Were also
competing against alternatives to potatoes;
Jan/Feb/Mar 2017 | Blueprints 75

some consumers are avoiding carbohy-
drates altogether, even though the
American Heart Association has given
potatoes its blessing.
Canadians are dealing with the same
obstacles. Potato consumption is down in
Canada due to smaller families and chang-
ing tastes for items like kale, quinoa, and
other grains, says Mills. Were constantly
using social media to promote recipes and
the fact that potatoes are high in impor-
tant nutrients with no more calories than
an apple.
76 Blueprints | Jan/Feb/Mar 2017
POTATOES & ONIONS: A Love Affair
Art Miller, president of Epic Produce
LLC in Phoenix, has also been facing some
trade challenges. We have our own label of
Colorado-grown russets for export to
Mexico, but Mexico has restrictions on
importing potatoes because they grow their
own, he explains. And although there are
negotiations to open more of the country to
U.S. exports, the U.S. presidential election
may have an impact.
Mexican growers feel they need price
protection because they hand-harvest
potatoes, making them more expensive
than American grown, machine-harvested
russets. Restrictions enable Mexican growers
to keep prices higher, but not so high that it
puts them out of reach for Mexican con-
sumers, Miller says. He also cites other
challenges, including labor, water, and the
uncertainty of relations with Mexico under
our new president. Ultimately, he says,
Were optimistic; weve managed to figure
it out before.
ONIONS
French chef Julia Child famously said,
Its hard to imagine civilization without
onions. Part of the original Paleo diet,
early growers learned quickly that onions
were less perishable than other foods, and
could be grown in many soils and climates.
Sweets and More
Onions are generally grouped into three
categories: spring green, summer fresh, and
fall/winter storage. While pungent, thicker-
skinned storage onions account for most
production, the success of sweet varieties
has contributed to an overall increase in
consumption by 20 percent in the last
30 years.
Ralph Schwartz, VP of marketing and
sales at Potandon Produce, LLC in Idaho
Falls, ID remarks, Sweet onions are a well-
established category. In the past, mostly we
sold in bulk with stickers displaying the
variety. Now, he says, the trend is smaller
bags with more information for consumers.
Additionally, sweet onions have found
their way into packaged products such as
barbecue sauce and salad dressings.
Branded sweet onions command a pre-
mium price, so breeders continue to
develop new cultivars to meet demand.
John Vlahandreas, onion program director
for Wada Farms explains, Seed technology
and growing practices have made for longer
seasons and higher yields for sweet onions.
And when supply runs short, suppliers can
now reach out to both domestic and inter-
national growers for more. We fill in with
Mexican and Peruvian sweets, Vidalias, and
Walla Wallas, he says.
Stefan Matheny, director of sales at River
Point Farms in Hermiston, OR, says todays
packaging offers more space for recipes and
branding messages. The wineglass labels
and bags with wraparound labels help mer-
chandise our Hermiston Sweets in stores,

he relates. We also do a large volume with
fresh-cut onions, he says, for both foodser-
vice and industrial customers.
Arizona Skys Franzone sees growth in
red onions and especially organics. Red
onions have grown exponentially over the
years, especially in the multicultural areas of
Canada where they are a staple in most East
Indian and Asian households. He notes
modest growth in organics, too, on both
the onion and potato sides. This goes
along with the industrywide demand for
organics in the past several years.
Transportation & Shipping
Since onions can be fussy travelers,
maintaining temperature and timely deliv-
ery are crucial, whether by rail or truck.
Matheny says his company relies mostly on
trucks, but also utilizes rail.
We use both trucks and rail, com-
ments Vlahandreas. You get a more
favorable price shipping by rail, but it can
take double the time. And since a rail car
holds three times [as much as] a truck, the
determining factor will often be the size of
the destination warehouse.
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POTATOES & ONIONS: A Love Affair
Challenges and Competition
Keeping consumers supplied with
onions throughout the year is good for the
industry, but presents challenges to suppli-
ers. Many cite other onion growing and
marketing regions as their competition,
while for others, its a matter of overlapping
seasons and access to markets.
Derek Ennis, sales manager for potatoes
and onions at L&M Companies, Inc. head-
quartered in Raleigh, NC, discusses the ups
and downs. With depressed markets for
row crops, Ennis says some of these growers
are jumping into onions instead, seeing a
potential to make more money with fresh
crops. In a good year, this can lead to an
oversupply.
Which, of course, happened. The
onion market is the lowest its been in
recent years, continues Ennis. With lim-
ited onion storage, many growers are
pushing product into the market and thats
one reason its so flooded. Hopefully, well
see the market stabilize so everyone can
make a profit. He also sees this as a reason
for getting into more organics and sweet
onions, which are more profitable.
Building strategic relationships is
another way to survive. Whether joining
forces for marketing, offering custom pack-
aging, or weighing in on future volume,
some growers and distributors are partner-
ing to hedge their seasonal bets. Matheny,
for one, believes the collaboration pays off:
By contracting and selling products before
we plant, were able to stabilize our cus-
tomers costs.
So whether you source or sell onions
or potatoes, these staples may not be as
glamorous as other fruits and vegetables,
but both are innovating to stay on plates
and in meals.
Photograph courtesy of River Point Farms, Hermiston, OR
Images: Daxlao Productions, Luisa Fumi & pathdoc/Shuterstock.com
For an extended, more comprehensive version
of this article, go to www.produce.com
Amy Sawelson Landes spent many years
in advertising and marketing for the
food industry; she now writes and blogs
about produce.
Jan/Feb/Mar 2017 | Blueprints 77