Black Gold Farms Red Potato Harvest Underway in the Red River Valley

Black Gold Farms is digging in the fields of the Red River Valley for red potatoes. Harvest will run for about four weeks with the majority of the harvest stored, packed and shipped out of Black Gold Farm’s expanded packing facility in East Grand Forks, Minn. through April 2016.

This year’s red potato growing season was not like last year’s in terms of both weather and expected yields. With multiple rain events, warm weather and even some hail, the potato crop around the Valley has had its challenges. “Mother Nature threw us a few curve balls this growing season, but as we get into some of our earlier fields, we are excited about what we’re seeing in terms of quality and yield,” says Keith Groven, sales manager for Black Gold Farms. “We’ve definitely seen more rain this summer than we have in years. Thankfully, our fields are geographically dispersed around the Red River Valley, which has ensured that we will have plenty of quality red potatoes for our customers,” Groven says, referring to a new production area in Erskine, Minn., about 50 miles west of the packing facility.

Black Gold Farms seen positive developments in their packing facility as well. “We’ve seen strong growth in demand for our Red River Valley red potatoes, so we needed to be sure we have the packing capabilities to keep up with our customers’ needs. We’ve invested substantially in additional equipment and technology which is really going to increase our throughput capacity,” says Don Ladhoff, director of fresh sales and marketing for Black Gold Farms.

The Red River Valley is renowned for its high-quality red potatoes, so as Eric Halverson, Black Gold Farm’s CEO says, “Even though we harvest reds year-round in multiple locations, this is our backyard: It’s where my great grandpa started farming almost 90 years ago, and where we’ve grown to earn recognition as the nation’s ‘Red Potato Experts.’”