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After high school, Bender attended
Coastal Carolina University and then had
a good job in North Carolina. But about
five years ago, his father, David, offered
an opportunity to return to the farm full-
time. The pull of home finally proved too
strong, and Bender and his young family
moved back to Chambersburg, Pa., where
four generations of Benders have been
growing potatoes for almost a dozen
decades.
Bender Farms grows about 140 acres
of potatoes each year. Around half that
acreage is dedicated to chipping potatoes,
the other half to table stock. They are
mostly round white varieties: Atlantic,
Reba, Waneta, Norwis and Lamoka will
come out of Bender ground in 2018. Most
of the Benders' chip potatoes are sold to
Utz, though some go to other, smaller East
Coast chip processors.
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