“It’s exciting to talk about new things” when there are new things to talk about, “but we usually don’t have much new going on in our company, and that is one of our calling cards, really,” said Ryan Wahlen, sales manager at Pleasant Valley Potato Inc. in Aberdeen, ID, in an interview with The Produce News Aug 22.

Ryan Wahlen“There has been a lot of consolidation and change over the years” in the Idaho potato industry,” Mr. Wahlen continued. But at Pleasant Valley, “we still have the same grower base and, for the most part, the same people here for a long time, and it has been a formula that has worked well for us.”

At Pleasant Valley, “we grow our own potatoes,” he said. “It is the same growers. It comes from the same ground. They have been doing it for generations. It is really what we hang our hat on, so we don’t tinker with it very much. At least in our case, that probably is the story.”

There have been changes, of course, particularly in terms of such things as technology and food safety practices. “We are always modernizing equipment just to make sure we keep up with the times and trends and [complying with] food-safety requirements. We’ve got to change some of our practices each year just to make sure that we are in compliance with that.” But “I think our customers come here because they know that we are consistent and they know where our potatoes come from.” Many of the company’s customers also “know the guys who grow them. They have come out here to see our farms.”

There is value in “the consistent quality” the company offers, he said. “I think that is what we bring to the table.”

Pleasant Valley started in the 1987-88 season. “It has been 25 years. But our owners — the farmers that own pleasant Valley” have been growing potatoes in the area for generations, and in some cases for more than a century.

“My grandpa came up here on a motorcycle from Salt Lake to homestead is first field” in 1910, he said. The grandfather of Ray Duffin, another of the owners, started farming in the area in 1910. The Christensen family are third-generation growers. They’ve been raising potatoes since the 1930s. So there is a lot of tradition. A lot of old time values are still alive and well here today.”

With regard to the 2012 potato crop, “the potatoes look beautiful,” Mr. Wahlen said.”We have been packing now for a little over a week — Norkotahs — and the quality has been outstanding.”

Currently, the company grows only russet varieties — Norkotahs and Burbanks — but that could change. “We’ve raised some [other] varieties in the past” such as rounds and yellow-flesh potatoes, and may do so again. Customers have been asking for them. “I think next season we will probably grow some different varieties, but this season, we just raise all russets.”

As for packaging, “we do all of the standard packs,” cartons and bags, as well as a twice-washed, shrink-wrapped microwave-ready potato. They come in a 40-pound display box and carry the “Pleasant Valley” brand.

In bags, “we do a poly-mesh bag, which is a little bit unusual,” Mr. Wahlen said. “It is half poly, half mesh,” with the mesh on the back side of the bag, allowing for better air circulation. “We use it exclusively during harvest. It helps with deliveries and limits the condensation in the bag.”