Dennis Wright manages a large potato farm in the Columbia Basin of Washington State. Wright is a member of the Potatoes USA executive committee and was in the Red River Valley for a grower outreach event. “Soils here are much different than I’ve ever experienced, the darker nice loam that we saw in some places,” said Wright. “The varieties here with the reds, the yellows, the chippers; it’s just different, beautiful.” Wright said the water situation differs from the Pacific Northwest to the Red River Valley. “Where I’m from, we get six-to-nine inches of water a year and here they don’t even have to irrigate sometimes.” The Potatoes USA executive committee made stops in Larimore, Hoople and Grand Forks Tuesday, Karlstad, Park Rapids and Perham Wednesday and Big Lake, Minnesota Thursday.
