Sackett Potatoes
Sackett Potatoes
The name Sackett has been
synonymous with potatoes in central
Michigan for a long time. A five-
generation legacy means a lot of
potatoes and a lot of Sacketts. In
1987, Alan Sackett, then a partner on
the original Sackett home farm with
his brothers, struck out on his own,
moving 30 miles north to Mecosta,
Mich. With his sons Brian and Jeff,
Alan leased a farm with 1,200 acres
of irrigated land and good storage
facilities. That first growing season
saw about 400 acres of potatoes
harvested.
Since then, the Sacketts have
increased their operation to more
than 18,000 farmed acres in three
states (Michigan, Illinois and North
Carolina). They grow seed corn,
field corn, soybeans, wheat and, of
particular interest to us, some 7,200
acres of chipping potatoes. The
original potato storage capacity of
90,000 hundredweight has grown
to accommodate more 1.3 million
hundredweight across the farm
locations.
Today, Brian Sackett and his son
Tyler — representing the fifth and
sixth generations to grow potatoes
— are managing partners of Sackett
Potatoes. Though Alan has retired
from day-to-day management, he
makes his way into the office most
days and continues to provide
16 POTATO GROWER | MARCH 2021
From left: Tyler, Alan and Brian Sackett
