For more than 50 years, O.C. Schulz & Sons has been meeting the needs of customers, growing, packing and shipping potatoes in the Red River Valley.

Operating out of Crystal, ND, the company specializes in red and yellow potatoes and utilizes sugar beets, wheat and soybeans for rotational purposes. Currently, it has 1,400 acres of potatoes, with 70 percent reds and 30 percent yellows.

For more than four decades, NoKota Packers, Inc., has been offering high quality service to the potato industry, storing, washing and packaging table stock potatoes for resale throughout the country.

“The Red River Valley is our home. We take pride in being able to work with growers from the best potato growing area around,” said Carissa Olsen, president and CEO of the Buxton, ND-based company. “Our livelihood is potatoes, being able to be a part of this category is imperative to our existence.”

As a fourth-generation family farm, Hoople, ND-based Hall’s has a long history in growing potatoes in the Red River Valley.

The company grows fresh potatoes for the retail and food service markets and pack potatoes in a variety of poly sizes, cartons and 50-pound bags, as well as totes for repackers. The majority of Hall’s acres are made up of red potatoes, but they also grow yellow potatoes as they have seen an increase in yellow demand and adjusted acreage to fit customers’ needs.

Northland Potatoes, which previously was known as the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association, has been promoting the profitability and unity of the potato growers of the adjoining states of Minnesota and North Dakota since its formation 77 years ago.

The Red River Valley is the largest producer of red potatoes in the nation and the area’s yellow potato crop is quickly increasing, as production has grown more than 15 percent in the last 10 years, representing nearly 30 percent of the segment, according to Northland Potatoes.

Between the open plains of North Dakota and the forested lake country of northern Minnesota, the Red River Valley is one of the most fertile farming regions in the world thanks to its nutrient-rich black earth, watered by prairie rains instead of irrigation, making it ideal for potato farmers.

O.C. Schulz & Sons Inc. understands a vital key to success is simply doing the right thing, for a long time. Longevity is synonymous with the fifth-generation family potato farm, which has made a name for itself growing, packing and shipping spuds from the Red River Valley.