Reds, whites, yellows, and russets—they all have year-round consumer demand. The volatile potato pricing market becomes more manageable for growers who have mastered the art of planting specialty potatoes for the lucrative wholesale market.

Nora Olsen, extension potato storage specialist at Twin Falls, has had numerous questions about storability of potatoes grown on two to eight acres that are destined for farmer’s markets, produce outlets, and restaurants.

The interest is mostly from potato producers near population centers, although the financial upside is great for anyone. For instance, Olsen’s brother Brent Olsen and their mother, Myrna, grow 25 potato varieties on only 15 acres near Colville, WA. It is the family’s only income.

“By keeping it small, prices can stay high,” Olsen said. “Quality is the number one concern.”

Olsen has talked to small acreage growers near Boise, Idaho Falls, and Ketchum about the need to extend storage times for red and yellow varieties. “Potatoes are a staple. Everybody wants them. Right now red prices are phenomenal. No one has reds in storage.”

Olsen’s research as a storage specialist at the University of Idaho Storage Research Facility near Kimberly tackles such issues as disease susceptibility, changing colors while in storage, and sprouting. By controlling humidity and temperature in the facility’s nine bins and replicating trials on 100 to 2,000 pounds of potatoes, mysteries are being solved.

“There’s enough room for a lot of other people,” Olsen said about the small-market enterprises. She warned, though, about a “tremendous amount of work involved. Not too many people can do what we are doing right now,” she said of her family’s business.

© 2002 University of Idaho, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.