Louis E. Knoflicek, a man who spent his career on the cutting edge of the potato industry died Jan. 24 in Alliance, Neb., at age 100.
Knoflicek earned a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1942. Harvey Werner, then the head of potato research at UNL, was a valued mentor. During summers at college, Knoflicek rogued seed potatoes in Box Butte County.
In 1945, Knoflicek started working in Scottsbluff for the Nebraska Certified Potato Growers Association. In 1955 he was transferred to the association’s branch in Alliance, Neb., and was later promoted to general manager.
In 1963, at age 49, Knoflicek established Western Potatoes in Alliance with the help of Ed Weaver. Western Potatoes was the main supplier of chipping potatoes for Weaver’s plant in Lincoln for many years and expanded to supply other potato chip companies such as Old Dutch.
During the 1960s and ‘70s, Western Potatoes also grew potatoes in Central City to add an early crop, but did not store potatoes there. In the late 1970s, the company started selling chipping and seed potatoes to Frito-Lay.
Over the years, Knoflicek and Western Potatoes made a concerted effort to use the latest innovations in the potato industry, including:
- Efficient equipment for planting and harvesting potatoes.
- Cutting-edge irrigation methods.
- Informed pest and disease management.
- Growing early-generation potatoes as a technique to establish a disease-free crop.
- Best sanitation practices.
- Climate-controlled warehouses with modern ventilations systems.
One of the accomplishments Knoflicek said he was most proud of was turning Western Potatoes into an employee-owned company upon his retirement in 1984. Throughout Western Potatoes’ 51 years, the company has employed hundreds of full-time and seasonal workers.
Beside its sites in Alliance, Central City and Lincoln, Western Potatoes currently has locations in Garden City, Kan.; Holyoke, Colo.; and Gordon, Neb., growing a total 3,500 acres and shipping 2,500 truckloads each year. About 90 percent of what Western Potatoes grows is contracted through Frito-Lay. It is one of only 70 growers in the United States that provides potatoes to Frito-Lay for chips and seed, and is one of the few Frito-Lay growers that grows disease-free seed potatoes, which are then sold to other growers. Alliance grows about 75 percent of Western Potatoes’ seed potatoes and about 40 percent of the company’s chipping potatoes.
Knoflicek served on the Potato Association of America and the Nebraska Potato Development Committee. In 1980 he was awarded the Panhandle Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center.
Author Vicki Jedlicka is Louis E. Knoflicek’s granddaughter.