The Monte Vista Potato Growers Cooperative Association is deeply rooted in the history of Colorado’s San Luis Valley. “MVPG was chartered under the Caper Volstad Act in 1923 and has been in continuous operation since that time,” General Manager Steve Tillman told The Produce News on Aug. 23. “Currently we have eight active members growing approximately 2,000 acres of potatoes.”

According to Mr. Tillman, the association’s growers primarily produce russets and yellows. “We are planning on having a limited supply of reds this season,” he added.

Shannon Casey, sales manager for RPE-Colorado, predicts the company will move 500,000 hundredweight of quality potatoes for Hi-Land Potato Co., based in Monte Vista, CO. RPE, a second-generation potato and onion grower-shipper owned by the Wysocki Family of Cos., is headquartered in Bancroft, WI.

Last year, the two companies joined forces, and RPE opened its sales office at Hi-Land “RPE is the exclusive marketer of Hi-Land Potato,” Mr. Casey told The Produce News on Aug. 23.

CENTER, CO — As they awaited certification by Primus Labs as Global Food Safety Initiative-compliant, sales and logistics staffers at Skyline Potato Co. in Center, CO, were also moving potatoes out of Nebraska and looking to the start of the 2011-12 San Luis Valley season as well.

“We have three sheds in operation and are able to meet all of our customers’ needs,” said Randy Bache, general manager and chief operating officer of Skyline and chief operating officer of Fresh Innovations LLC, produce grower-shipper and Skyline sister company in Yuma, AZ.

Noting a “fluid” potato market in late August as harvest of the 2011 potato crop was getting underway in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, H.R. Bushman Corp. Sales Manager Sal Pupillo said conditions will naturally change when the spuds are out of the fields and in storage.

From his office in St. Louis, Mr. Pupillo said on Aug. 30, “As soon as we get into storage, supply and demand take over.”

He said that Bushman has started moving northern Colorado potatoes, and he said that in the fluctuating market cartons “seem to be holding their own.”

CENTER, CO — Describing 2010-11 as a good year for Aspen Produce and sister company, Ponderosa Partnership farm, Farm and Operations Manager Jed Ellithorpe said on Aug. 15 the Center, CO, shed was running both 2010-11 San Luis Valley spuds and new crop potatoes out of northern Colorado.

“We have had plenty of potatoes,” Mr. Ellithorpe said of Aspen’s 12-month program, noting that overall the valley had experienced a short crop.

Shipments of the 2011-12 crop for Aspen were set to start Aug. 29 with early varieties.

Colorado Specialty Potatoes is preparing to move a quality crop into the pipeline. Pam Bogle, who manages the company’s warehouse and is part of the sales team, said specialty potatoes are grown by Bigelow Associated Farms. “J.B. Farms LLC, doing business as Colorado Specialty Potaotes is the shipper and the warehouse,” she told The Produce News on Aug. 24. “Ken Burback is the farm manager.”