“Idaho is our flagship location, where our company started and where the lion’s share of our product comes from,” said Coleman Oswald, director of sales for the Iona, ID-based company. “We grow potatoes in several different states, but there’s no question that Idaho is the biggest and has the biggest impact on our company.”

Established in 1996, offering quality potatoes has always been at the heart of Eagle Eye Produce.

As a premier grower, packer, shipper and seller of different varieties of potatoes (Russets, reds, yellows, whites, and specialty rounds), the company is able to provide a true year-round potato program to all of its customers. 

“For Idaho, we have a very volcanic-rich soil with a lot of ash from days of old that gives us a really good makeup in the soil,” Oswald said. “Our elevation is perfect for the temperature swings we need to experience for the potatoes. The big swings allow for potatoes to take in all the nutrients it needs when it’s warm and then at night, relax.”

There’s been a big push by customers to get all potatoes from a one-stop shop, and Eagle Eye has seen more demand for yellow potatoes than ever and continues to increase acreage in that segment so it can be that one-stop player.

“A lot of people who want reds and golds hop around the country and go to different growing regions to complement their one-year program, but we do a year-round red, yellow and Russets program from one location,” Oswald said.

The company also has a successful year-round onion program with more than 2,500 acres of onions under cultivation each year and grows, packs and ships over 100 million pounds of onions annually.

Additionally, Eagle Eye deals in watermelon, hard squash, soft squash, Bell peppers, hot peppers, Roma tomatoes, eggplant, round beans and cucumbers.

“The secret to success for us has been our diversity,” Oswald said. “The largest piece of our pie is the potato piece, but what sets us apart is we are a grower and shipper of onions, watermelon and dry vegetables. It’s nice we have other commodities to lean on so when one is down, we can lean on something else.”

Oswald characterizes 2024 as a good one for the company, though prices have been low. Dealing with too many potatoes has been the biggest challenge all year.

“Season-wise, we are in our crop transition currently,” he said. “For potatoes and onions, we transition in the month of August from one crop year to another crop year. On the fiscal year, the potato market was a bit soft, but now we’re transitioning into the new season and we’re hopeful that things will be better. We’re optimistic that the fourth quarter will be better as we have a better supply situation than the first half when there was an oversupply of the market.”

But the onions and vegetables all did well in 2024, so that allowed Eagle Eye to continue to innovate and invest. Along those lines, the company is a big believer in tech.

“We are one of the more cutting-edge facilities out there in terms of using AI for sorting, robotics and anything we can do to cut labor and make our pack more consistent,” Oswald said.

Eagle Eye also just completed a brand-new, state-of-the-art 22,000-square-foot trucking facility in Idaho Falls, ID, a few miles from its largest potato packing plant, allowing it to deliver those loads that might be more difficult to deliver than others.

“We run more than 100 trucks day-in and day-out to deliver to customers,” Oswald said.