"They (customers) have to be able to find us easily. We have to make sure we’re on the right store shelf." — Sandford Gleddie.

Summer Series: Getting big with small potatoes

[Change Management] Can you transition your hot new idea into a stable, growth-oriented business? The Little Potato Company’s Angela Santiago had to figure out how to do just that, and quick

Reading Time: 8 minutes At first, it seemed their real job would be to build awareness. What could have been clearer than that? After all, they had the idea already. Jacob van der Schaaf and his daughter, Angela Santiago, could see a market gap for the kind of small, flavourful potatoes that van der Schaaf had grown up with […] Read more



Photo: Thinkstock

Canadian potato output rises in 2023 

Alberta vaults to first place in provincial potato production

Reading Time: 2 minutes At 32.063 million hundredweight of potatoes this year, Alberta vaulted from third to first place as it improved on the previous year’s crop of 26.813 million. Manitoba moved into second spot from third with its harvest of 29.760 million cwt. following last year’s 26.139 million. Prince Edward Island saw its output reduced in 2023 to 25.813 million cwt. from 27.789 million. In 2023, the trio combined for 68 per cent of Canada’s total potato harvest of 128,801 million cwt. 

McCain foods has launched Presia Ag Insights, a firm that will use artificial intelligence to advise growers.  Photo: McCain Foods

McCain launches new predictive ag firm

Reading Time: 2 minutes McCain Foods has formed a new digital agriculture subsidiary, Presia Ag Insights. The move builds on McCain’s 2022 acquisition of a “predictive crop portfolio” from Resson, a Fredricton, New Brunswick firm that uses artificial intelligence to advise farmers on crop management decisions. McCain, in a media release, said the Presia launch is “the result of […] Read more


File photo of a Prince Edward Island potato field. (Onepony/iStock/Getty Images)

P.E.I. potato growers, CFIA to draft plan for ‘pest-free places’

Plan would support movement of seed potatoes, feds say

Reading Time: 2 minutes A system of “pest-free places of production” (PFPP) is now on the drawing board for Prince Edward Island’s potato sector, following a meeting between federal and industry officials. Federal Agriculture Minister and P.E.I. MP Lawrence MacAulay on Friday reported meeting with staff and representatives of the P.E.I. Potato Board, to discuss next steps in the […] Read more

File photo of a potato field in Alberta’s Lacombe County. (COrthner/iStock/Getty Images)

Alberta potatoes chip in $2.9 billion for Canadian economy

New report verifies what many in industry suspected

Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta’s potato industry is making a big impact — not just on that province but the entire country. A new report — dubbed a “landmark study” by the Potato Growers of Alberta — revealed the sector drove a total contribution of $2.87 billion to Canada’s economy in 2022. It also notes the nationwide creation of […] Read more


Peter VanderZaag has taken all he’s learned about soil health and applied it to his Sunrise Potato Storage endeavour.

A potato producer’s commitment to change

Embracing soil health and new technologies helped Peter VanderZaag build a successful potato business. Like most farmers these days, he’s faced with having to do more with less

Reading Time: 4 minutes Every farmer knows that change is inevitable. New markets beckon, new technologies emerge, end-user tastes, preferences and opportunities shift, and it’s often the primary producer who’s one of the first to react. Peter VanderZaag has spent much of his farming career investing wisely in new equipment, securing contracts and growing his Sunrise Potato Storage business […] Read more

McCain Foods’ Farm of the Future in Florenceville, N.B., is the centrepiece of the company’s regenerative agriculture efforts in Canada.

Breaking down barriers to sustainability in potato production

McCain Foods teams up with Farm Credit Canada and McDonald’s Canada to provide financial incentives for farmers who adopt regenerative agricultural practices

Reading Time: 4 minutes McCain Foods pledged two years ago to implement regenerative agricultural practices across 100 per cent of its potato acreage worldwide by 2030. To help reach that goal, the company is now offering up financial solutions to make sustainable farming more affordable for Canadian potato producers. McCain Foods announced in November it was teaming up with […] Read more