While attending the 106th Annual Potato Association of America meeting in Missoula, Montana, in July we were able to take a field trip to Glacier View Farm in Ronan.
We were greeted by Tim and Dan Lake, who showed us around some of their seed potato operation, including their greenhouses and tissue culture facilities. A stone’s throw away from the greenhouses was a field of very nice looking Russet Burbank potatoes.
The Lakes, who are raising 550 acres of Russet Burbank and Ranger Russet seed potatoes this year, said they feel good about their 2022 crop of potatoes. “This year is much more normal,” Dan Lake said. Last year excessive heat and drought didn’t do the Lakes (or any other growers for that matter) any favors.
“We had a really good spring and there’s very little stress (on the potatoes),” Lake said.
Dan Lake also visited with several national and international potato researchers who were also on the field trip, describing Glacier View’s operation to them. He explained the farm sells Generation 3 seed potatoes to growers in Washington state’s Columbia Basin as well as in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Here are a few shots from our field trip to Glacier View Farm.