Monte Vista, CO – With an estimated 1.2 million cwt of russet potatoes to run through the shed this season, Worley & McCullough both expanded its warehouse space and upgraded its line in preparation for the 2015 crop.

Grower Relations/Food Safety Officer Erin Hatton, who was married to Chester Hatton in August, said the addition of warehouse storage space was “to build on our future.”

Victoria Peters, Erin Hatton and Michele Peterson handle sales, grower relations, food safety and quality control at Worley & McCullough in the San Luis Valley. (Photo courtesy of Worley & McCullough)She continued, “We’re upgrading the shed line for efficiency and to provide better service and quality with more capabilities.”

Hatton added that the shed was running 2014 spuds the third week of August and would wrap up within days.

The new crop started the fourth week of August, she said, adding approximately half of the all-russet inventory comes from her father, Jim McCullough, who is president and director of the fifth-generation company.

The balance is grown by seven or eight outside growers.

Domestic sales of the spuds are handled by Wada Farms Marketing of Idaho, and sales to Mexico are managed by Victoria Peters of the San Luis Valley office. Hatton and Peters said between 25 and 30 percent of the shed’s production goes to Mexico.

Working with the Wada team on sales as well as quality control in Colorado is longtime San Luis Valley potato sales agent Michele Peterson.

Peters weighed in on the 26-kilometer buffer zone and the possibility of the interior of Mexico being opened again to U.S. spuds, noting that price wars could result from such an opening. But both she and Hatton agreed that establishing U.S. potatoes as a staple in Mexico is the ultimate goal, and Peters said, “More demand is always a good thing.”

New in packaging this season is the “Tater Made” sustainable bag, into which some 60-65 percent of spuds are packed. Offered by Biologiq Marketing Group of Idaho Falls, the five-, eight- and 10-pound bags are made from a combination of polyethylene and potato starch-based materials from recycled potato waste products.

“We started packing in them in January,” Hatton said. “They were introduced with the 2014-15 crop.”

Along with the bags, which are custom printed with shippers’ artwork and other info, W&M continues its consumer promotion with Kwik Lok closures that offer discount coupons. The Kwik Loks are used on the Biologiq bags, Hatton said.

Citing good growing conditions, the women said the 2015 crop looked great going into harvest, and they said transportation was not a problem — although it could tighten from January into March.