“We plan to start movement on June 28 on the Eastern Shore, about a week to 10 days later than normal,” Benny Hall Sr., owner of Benny Hall & Sons Inc. in Temperanceville, VA, told The Produce News in late May.

“The wet and cold spring made for a hard planting,” he continued. “We struggled through it, however, and now the crop is catching up nicely. We expect the quality and volumes to be excellent this year.”

Benny Hall & Sons also has a partner operation with Middleton Farms named H&M in Hastings, FL. Hall was in Florida in late May packing potatoes. His sales representative, David Scott, works with the company throughout the year.

“David is a great asset to us,” said Hall. “He’s very conscientious. During the summer months he’s with us during all of those long days. We’re now thinking about adding another sales person at some point in the future.”

Hall will be selling Florida potatoes until harvesting wraps up about June 25.

“Our Florida crop is excellent this year,” he said. “Things were a little slow moving until Memorial Day business began, but then we started shipping eight to 10 loads back north every day. We just added another 400 acres in Florida. We are now harvesting our first crop of Russets from Florida, and we’re the only company in the Hastings’ area to have them.”

Hall is the third generation to operate the Eastern Shore farming operation.

The company grows red, white and yellow, or Yukon Gold, potatoes, noting that, “we plant only true Yukon Gold potatoes, not off-brands.”

Despite the crop being a little late, he said that the quality and volumes were looking great.

The company grows potatoes on about 900 acres in Virginia. This year, Hall added a new cooler at his Virginia facility, bringing its capacity up to 100 loads.

When business in Virginia kicks in, Hall and his staff, and his wife, will be on their toes at the facility between 14 and 15 hours a day.

“My wife cooks lunch and dinner for us, and we all look forward to those just harvested potatoes,” Hall said. “The first day they come out of the ground I can sit and eat three in a row, and savor every bite. There is nothing better tasting than that.”

He also explained that buyers like light colored potatoes. The soil on the Eastern Shore is lighter than the Carolinas, and so the potatoes aren’t as dark and are typically more highly desired.

Benny Hall added fingerling potatoes to its plantings last year.

“There’s a big demand, and they get a premium,” Hall said. “So we continue to monitor their performance.”  

Hall explained that the demand for new crop potatoes continues to be highly desired as compared to stored potatoes.

“Think about the taste of a potato that you buy from your grocer during the winter,” he said. “You’ll realize that it has an ‘earthy’ taste. That’s the typical taste that you get from a potato coming out of storage. Fresh potatoes don’t have this taste, and that’s why fresh supplies are highly desired.”

He noted that the company’s potatoes, given the right amount of moisture, will double in size every week from now until harvest begins.

Because everyone is running late up and down East Coast, Hall said that he feels that everyone will have a window to market their crops.

“We are later than usual, but so is Carolina, New York and Delaware, so hopefully none of us will be stepping on anyone else’s window,” he said. “We will wrap up in the Eastern Shore around August 15 or a few days later. Prices are holding nicely on yellows, with reds being a little softer. But the better prices should continue this season because everyone will have their own marketing window.”

Benny Hall & Sons is third-party audited. It holds a superior rating of 940 from the American Institute of Bakers’ certification.

The company achieved its Primus GAP and Global GAP Harmonization audits this year, also with ratings in the 900s.

The company also buys and sells other fresh produce items year round. It produces a full line of potato categories at its Virginia location.

Hall’s grandfather, Fred Hall, started the company in 1950. It packs and ships its potatoes under the “Old Mike” brand.

“Anything we can sell and buy to make a penny on, we do it,” said Hall.

“It helps that we have our own fleet of refrigerated trucks, so we do a lot of our own deliveries to customers. Customers want timely delivery, and we can give it to them. Service to our customers is paramount in everything we do.”