Potato Grower

Potato Grower Annual 2020

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WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 7 The Wayside, just off the Heyburn exit, serves a decent burger and killer apple pie. It's packed in here, as it is every day at noon, but it's still one of those places with a definite everybody-knows-your- name vibe. Rod Lake hasn't even sat down yet, but already the waitress is headed toward him with a tall glass of Pepsi. Lake and his business partners, brothers Robert and Jerry Tominaga, are regulars here. They manage to chat up everyone at the neighboring tables, and it's impossible to tell whether they've known these people for two minutes or 40 years. Sitting with them, you get the feeling that these guys would feel at home just about anywhere and be welcomed by just about any crowd. Each is confident and comfortable in his own skin, acutely aware of his own strengths and shortcomings, sure of his role on both a business and a personal level. More than anything, that is what has led to the success of their business, SouthWind Farms, which grows and markets several varieties of fingerling potatoes. SouthWind Farms has been around for 20 years, but Robert, Jerry and Rod have all been involved in the potato industry for considerably longer. The Tominagas are third-generation Idaho potato growers who, until about 10 years ago, operated a conventional farm growing primarily russet potatoes and dry beans. Lake started out as an agronomist out of college, eventually building his own conventional farm that he and his family still run separately from SouthWind today. Robert was the first to dip his toe into the fingerling potato market. With another business partner, he began growing and packing the little spuds in the late '90s. After three years of what could generously be called moderate success, the partner bowed out. So Robert called up his brother Jerry and old friend Rod. "I called Rod and Jerry," Robert recalls, "and I told them, 'I still think this has some merit.'" Each was game. SouthWind Farms was born on four acres on the north shore of the Snake River. No one in Idaho—and indeed, very few in the country—were growing fingerlings at the time, so finding advice was difficult. The learning curve was steep. Most of their equipment was All of SouthWind Farms' equipment, from planting to harvest to packaging, has to be customized to handle fingerling potatoes as opposed to the big russets grown on neighboring farms. Yellow fingerlings enter storage during the 2020 harvest. Yellow fingerlings are packaged at the SouthWind Farms facility, which can sort and package according to any customer's needs.

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