With a network of 60 co-packers in 24 states and another nine co-packers in Canada, Idaho Falls, ID-based Potandon Produce is “the largest marketer of fresh potatoes and one of the largest marketers of onions in North America,” according to the company website.

The company markets the “SunSpiced” brand and also has “exclusive license rights to market fresh potatoes and onions utilizing the Green Giant Fresh brand in North America.”

Jamey Higham“We offer a wide range of potato and onion products,” Jamey Higham, vice president of business development and foodservice, told The Produce News Aug. 22. “We have a good selection, and the quality is excellent.”

The company focuses on “quality and taking care of customers,” he said.

“We have started shipping our new-crop russets here in Idaho, and so far the quality seems to be excellent,” he said. The packing facilities were only in partial production at the time, but “over the next couple of weeks we will slowly ramp up to full production” and be going “full-speed” by Labor Day.

The early harvest was Russet Norkotahs, he said. “We won’t be shipping any Burbanks until later in the fall. That is typical.”

So far, demand seemed to be good, he said.

The 2011 crop “cleaned up right on schedule,” Mr. Hig-ham continued. “It worked out how we planned. It was some good planning by our operations, so we finished up pretty smoothly, and the transition has been pretty good into the new crop.”

The company’s Idaho potato acreage for the 2012 harvest is “actually pretty steady,” he said, but actual production will depend on yield and packout. The harvest will continue to the middle of October, “so time will tell what the crop is going to be like, but so far it has been excellent.”

Potandon offers a good assortment of both potato and onion varieties and was a pioneer in Idaho with growing specialty potato varietals in addition to russets. Mr. Hig-ham did not, however, elaborate on varieties, but said simply that they include, in addition to russets, “the reds, the yellows and the minis. We can take care of our customers’ needs.”

The company has a large sales team, with Bernie Pavlock and J.P. Surerus as sales managers. “They do a great job of managing our sales staff in our office,” Mr. Higham said. “We’re pretty steady right now in our sales department. We have a great team, probably the best we have ever had, in the office right now. We are pretty happy with the way things are going.”