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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Most folks think of Idaho when they think of potatoes, but farmers in Washington state's Columbia Basin are making their own mark on the nation's potato industry.
Though the state only has 250 potato growers, the crop is worth $7.4 billion to the state's economy each year, Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, told The Spokesman-Review (http://bit.ly/2pSyJSt).
But it's a competitive market with low profit margins, and as a result nearly all of the state's potato farms are large, high-tech operations rather than small mom-and-pop farms.
"If you have a decent year, a good year you might make 4 percent return on your investment," Voigt said. "If you have something bad happen, you're going to lose money."
The small margins, combined with the high-tech machinery necessary to grow potatoes on a large scale, make consolidation and expansion a necessity.
"The margins have gotten so slim," Voigt said. "To make a living for your family anymore, you have to grow bigger."
That's been true for Rex Calloway and his farm near Quincy. When his grandfather first arrived on the land 70 years ago, the Columbia Basin was dry and homesteaders and dry-land farmers in the region eked out a living by growing crops with just an average of 6 to 8 inches of rain a year.
But things were changing, and Calloway's grandfather knew it: The Grand Coulee Dam was rising about 100 miles to the northeast, and along with it a massive federal irrigation project that would transform the basin into one of the nation's richest farming areas.
Now Calloway dedicates most of his 2,700-acre farm to potatoes, sometimes alternating the crop with corn and wheat.
With that kind of specialization and competition comes new demands, with farmers increasingly expected to be business managers, chemists, mechanics and salesmen.
"Farming is difficult. This is not easy," said Calloway, a third-generation farmer. "By God, if your heart is not in this, it will take you down so fast."
The cold-start approach his grandfather took — buying land and launching a farm — is largely impossible today, he said. Younger generations are also becoming increasingly disinterested in farming, and Calloway doesn't know if his 15- and 12-year-old sons will be interested in taking on the family business when he retires.
If they don't, Calloway will likely auction the farm.
"I've seen more auctions this year than I've ever seen," said Paul Wollman, the farm manager at the Warden Hutterian Brethren farm, east of Calloway's farm. "This, here, is getting to the point where it's a big concern."
The number of new farmers — those operating for 10 years or less — dropped by 20 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the U.S. Agricultural Census.
Potatoes remain the leading vegetable crop in the United States, representing about 15 percent of all farm vegetables sold, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Washington accounts for 23 percent of the national industry.
About 70 percent of the 10 billion pounds of potatoes grown annually in Washington are exported. That's part of why the average consumer isn't aware of Washington state's role in the potato market, said Ryan Holterhoff, director of marketing for the Washington State Potato Commission.
"We have this very important and vibrant potato industry going on here in Washington," he said. "And if you get outside of the Columbia Basin, a lot of people don't even know that exists."
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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com
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