Thus far the 2014-15 shipping season has been good to Colorado grower-shippers, according to Monte Vista Potato Growers’ general manager Jason Tillman, and he said that although potato movement had slowed somewhat after the holidays, he remains optimistic that overall business will continue to be steady.
During the first week of January, Tillman said yellows in particular were doing well, and he said the Mexican market was also brisk.
“We’ve had more outside business with our yellows,” Tillman said. “We are talking about some upgrades to the shed, possibly adding a polishing system for our yellows.”
Upgrades in the past couple of years at the SCS GlobalGAP-certified shipping facility include New Tec baggers, and Tillman said the majority of the cooperative’s farms are also GAP-certified with trace-back protocol in place.
The grower cooperative association, which was managed for 22 years by Jason Tillman’s father, Steve, is familiar ground to the “new” GM who had four years’ experience at the co-op before taking on the manager’s job. In addition to the managerial tasks, Jason Tillman is the sole salesman for seven growers, focusing on retail customers who are mostly outside Colorado.
For that segment, MVPG specializes in 5- and 10-pound bags and 50-pound cartons, with the Southeast a primary market.
“Mexico has been really good to us this year as well,” he said. The russets are provided to another San Luis Valley shipper who moves them to the 26-kilometer buffer. Russet varieties grown and shipped by MVPG are Canela, Mesa, Norkotah and Centennial, which account for 90 percent of the volume. Yellows are the balance.
“It’s been kind of a different year for us,” Tillman said regarding yellow movement and the shortfalls in other potato-growing areas. “They always say when you think you’ve got it figured out, all you have to do is wait until next year.”
Water is one of the most critical issues in the San Luis Valley, and Tillman said snowfall in the San Juans has been gratefully received, but no major changes are planned for 2015-16.
“We’re going to stay with our acreage and our pack options this year,” he said. “We’ll wait another year and see what happens.”
Source: The Produce News