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22 POTATO GROWER | APRIL 2016 GROWER OF THE MONTH SIZING - SORTING - GRADING PLUS, INTERIOR DETECTION: Hollow Heart* Insect Damage Foreign Material Digger Cuts *99% OF ALL INTERNAL DAMAGE AgRay Vision Systems 209-334-1999 info@agrayvision.com www.agrayvisionsystems.com SIZING - SORTING - GRADING PLUS, INTERIOR DETECTION: Hollow Heart* Insect Damage Foreign Material Digger Cuts *99% OF ALL INTERNAL DAMAGE AgRay Vision Systems 209-334-1999 info@agrayvision.com www.agrayvisionsystems.com 159284AgRay12v.indd 1 3/2/16 2:11 PM mix of conventional and organic potatoes, combined with their vast "local" territory, gives them several unique market advantages. "While we endorse organic and feel that that's a good lifestyle for many people, we feel that everything we grow conventionally is every bit as safe," says Strohauer. "It was an opportunity we saw to market the same products in two different directions. "We endorse the organic lifestyle and feel that is a growing segment. Twenty years ago, if somebody was buying organic, they tried to buy totally organic. Now, there's a broadening range of people who will buy organic. They may not buy 100 percent organic; they might only buy a few items. It's a growing, important segment." MaKing it WoRK As can be imagined, operating two farms nearly 400 miles apart has had its challenges. Strohauer credits the success of the venture to his many employees who have been willing to work at both locations. He doesn't take for granted the sacrifice it's been for many of them. Somewhat fortuitously, the season at the southern farm begins and ends two to three weeks ahead of the Greeley location, allowing equipment and bodies to be ferried back and forth to aid in planting and harvest. When I first brought up the idea that we were going to have to relocate, and I knew it had the potential to disrupt lives and families," Strohauer recalls. "One of our people said it would be more like a vacation getting out of the Greeley area for a few weeks a year and away from some of the problems we were dealing with at the time." Strohauer himself makes the trip quite often in his private plane. And each Saturday night during the tri-state harvest, he fits as many employees as he can in the plane to take them back to Greeley to spend Sunday with their families. "It's amazing how often in our lives the challenges and adversities we face are God's blessings in disguise waiting for us," says Harry Strohauer. "Without the water adversity we faced that was threatening our livelihood, we would have never ventured out into the organic and tri-state spaces, both of which have really allowed our farm to grow and thrive." "As it became harder to survive in the Greeley area, we saw opportunity in the organic realm," says Strohauer. "I had wanted to start growing fingerlings, and it made the most sense at that time to do fingerlings as organic." Bit by bit, Strohauer Farms' organic production has increased. They now produce both all of their varieties—which include several russet, red, fingerling and Yukon cultivars—both conventionally and organically. Today, the Strohauers' who manages Strohauer Farms operations in what they call the tri-state area. "There aren't many growers who can provide something like that." Strohauer Farms potatoes and onions are grown both conventionally and organically, which has also proven to be a boon to business. The incorporation of organic production, which began on Strohauer Farms in 2006, was another byproduct of the water troubles facing the farm in northern Colorado.