
Cambridge Farms sees Maine as a strong regional potato supplier
Over the years, the supply chains for produce in the U.S. have shifted from a regional marketing and distribution model to one that also includes a network of producers across the country in order to better serve customers with a year-round supply.
Cambridge Farms, based in Easton, MA, offers that year-round availability with partnerships in major potato producing regions.

At the same time, president and owner Ken Gad sees growing support from customers who want to feature local and regional products, including potatoes grown in Maine, where Cambridge Farms has a Presque Isle sales office.
That support has been gradually increasing for many years, Gad said, primarily fueled by growers and shippers upgrading storage and packing technology to provide a more customized and quality pack.
Sourcing regionally leads to lower freight costs, said Gad, adding that Cambridge Farms and other distributors maintain strong ties to partners in other potato-growing regions.
“Most of us have created some very, very well thought out strategic partnerships throughout the country and Canada, and we’re all very focused on the seasonality of each and every crop, and what we need to do to make sure that our receiving partners, our marketing partners, can get the quality, quantity and variety that they need on an annual basis,” he said.
In Maine and other states, Cambridge Farms’ relationships with grower and buyer partners are key, Gad said.
“I stress ‘partners,’ because we don’t look at ourselves as vendors, we don’t look at our farmers as vendors to us,” he said. “And for our end-user partners, it’s not just customers and dollar signs. We really are partners, because that way we’re all fighting, we’re all trying, striving for the same positive result.”
2024 potato crop
Maine potato growers, who were able to plant earlier, had potatoes out of the ground and in storage in nearly record time, Gad said. Yields were about average, he said, and the overall size profile of the crop is good.
“Everything that’s pulling out of storage is great,” he said.
A dry period just before harvest, however, could cause some concerns in 2025.
“If there was any concern on my part with the lack of rain, it would be that we were storing a crop that is probably a little bit higher in solid content, which would concern me when it comes to the product we pull out later in the storage season,” Gad said.
Heading into the spring, potatoes coming out of storage could show higher than normal signs of pressure bruising.
A mitigating factor to that concern, however, is the storage upgrades that growers have made in recent years, giving them the tools to better control the environment throughout the marketing year.
“There’s a few things they can do, a few techniques they could use, to keep that potential pressure bruise down,” he said. “So, they can control that.”