Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/15761
FAMILY TIME. Andy and his girlfriend, Crystal Olson, and son, Ian Beversdorf. Central sands, my grandfather, Robert, and my father, steve, left white lake to come down to Coloma and start farming. the original farm, Diercks and sons, inc. operated up there until about 10 years ago. so i’ve lived in the Coloma area my entire life. i went to college at the university of wisconsin-madison for five years and got a degree in agricultural engineering, then came back to the farm. i haven’t found a sufficient reason to leave. Q. WHAT VARIETIES OF POTATOES DO YOU GROW, AND FOR WHAT MARKETS? a. we have grown as many as 1,100 acres of potatoes but now typically grow between 700 and 800 acres each year. we grow process potatoes for mcCain Foods in Plover, wis. we grow some chipping potatoes “I Am the anDy DieRCKs is the FouRth generation in his family to grow potatoes. he represents the growers of wisconsin on the united states Potato board, and completes his current term in 2011. as a usPb administrative Committee member, serving on the industry Communications & Policy Committee for the last three years, Diercks provided valuable insight and common sense solutions to issues dealing with technology and the effective delivery of information to the national potato industry. Dierck’s Coloma Farms is located in 18 Potato Grower | SEPTEMBER 2010 USPB!” ‘Q and A’ with Andy Diercks of Coloma Farms story and Photos by David Fairbourn the Central sands region of wisconsin. the Central sands is a flat, sandy lake plain that formed from the prehistoric Glacial lake wisconsin. the lake contained glacial melt-water extending over 1.1 million acres at its highest stage. today, the Central sands region supports agriculture, forestry, recreation and wildlife management. Q. HOW DID YOU BECOME A GROWER? a. [our] farm was started 100 miles north of here in white lake, wis. in the early ‘60s, when irrigation came to the for regional chip companies, and we grow about 200 acres of fresh potatoes, including early reds and whites, russets and yellows. most of our fresh potatoes run through our small packing shed on the farm, typically operating from late July through sometime between halloween and Christmas. we have storage on the farm for about 200,000 cwt of potatoes. Q. CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT IT’S LIKE GROWING POTATOES IN CENTRAL WISCONSIN? a. the climate in central wisconsin provides some real challenges to all of us growing potatoes here. we have high humidity and warm temperatures, providing a wonderful environment for a variety of pests and diseases. the warm night time temperatures that we tend to get can cause serious quality issues, and while we tend to get over 30 inches of moisture every year we always seem to end up with a three- or four-week stretch during the growing season with no rain. so irrigation is pretty much a necessity in our region. all the acres on our farm are located within two miles of the home farm, so we’ve been able to use some pretty large equipment to keep the amount of skilled labor at a minimum. we operate the entire operation with only six full-time people and have about eight part-time