The potato harvest will ramp up at G&D Wallace/Wallace Farms at the beginning of September. The company is located in the heart of the Skagit Valley, and has a rich history of family farming that began generations ago. Potatoes grown are red, white, gold and purple conventional potatoes as well as organic reds and russets. The company’s production acreage has remained relatively stable.

Jack WallaceJack Wallace, co-owner and sales manager, said the 2015 production season has been challenging. “The weather has been warm and dry,” he told The Produce News. “We have had to irrigate continuously to keep the potatoes growing strong. Our water supplies have been sufficient. But it has taken a great deal of effort to manage the people and equipment to maintain such a sustained irrigation effort. We have never had such a dry growing season. Skagit Valley farmers have been cooperating to share wells and provide access across fields to help each other cope with the long dry summer.”

According to Wallace, weather may have an impact on tonnage. “But we are not seeing any impact on quality,” he commented. “If anything, the reds and golds seem to have more vibrant color than in a more typical, wetter season.”

The harvest will begin during the first week of September, a time frame that Wallace said, “has become the norm for us. We like to finish harvesting before Thanksgiving. But we always have a few acres in the ground into early December to provide field-fresh potatoes for our customers.”

Potatoes are marketed under the “Samish River” and “Skagit Meadows” brands to retailers, wholesalers and foodservice customers throughout North America. “We do pack in our customers’ private label bags and cartons,” Wallace added.

G&D Wallace also exports potatoes to Canada. “A lot depends on how strong the Canadian supply is and how long it lasts,” Wallace said. “It seems that our Canadian business does not become significant until late fall when the Canadian growers finish up.”

The company’s customers can take advantage of a full range of packing options to meet their needs. “We always make a few changes updating packaging and adding some additional bag options,” he continued. “We expect that RPCs will be more prevalent and we have automated our RPC line to add greater efficiencies and to reduce drops. We are also offering a 25-pound carton which has been popular for creamers and other high-end items.”

Turning to food safety, Wallace said requirements are always evolving and becoming more demanding. “We have automated certain recordkeeping and tracking functions on our line so that we have a digital record of what operations are active as we wash, sort and pack potatoes,” he said. “We believe that this system will simplify recordkeeping and allow us to access information quickly and easily.”

G&D Wallace is Primus GFS certified. “We have consistently scored in the superior range,” Wallace said.