Making a Life
Dwight Horsch is a third generation potato farmer in Aberdeen, Idaho. The three basic focuses of his life have been family, farm and service to his industry.
In the early 1900s his grandfather took up land west of Aberdeen, in a more rocky area.
“He then worked for a man who had some land closer to town, and after a few years asked if he could rent a piece of it, Dwight said. “The farmer preferred to sell it to him, rather than rent it, so that’s how it all started. My dad was born on that farm in 1915.
“I started out on my own in 1971, on some land in the same sections. It’s good dirt and basically rock free. I had a little help from my family with borrowed machinery. My wife Kathy and I took the plunge and got started.”
Dwight said his wife, Kathy, is an important part of the operation. They have two daughters Holly and Tiffany who both helped on the farm while growing up. Both daughters are now grown and have moved off the farm.
“Family makes all the difference in the world, in this job,” he said. “When Kathy and I are here together, it’s working. When we’re not, it’s not such a fun job. Agriculture, working as a family, is a great life. There are lots of other ways to make a living, but this is a way to make a life.”
Today, the Horsch’s farm is 2,500. On those acres they grow 500 to 800 acres of potatoes each year, depending on the rotation, Dwight said.
“With my type of soil, I like to go every fourth year with potatoes, followed by one year of sugar beets, then two years of wheat. That’s my rotation,” Dwight said.
How much the land rests between potato crops depends on the soil and the grower’s management, Dwight said.
“Some people with modern techniques do well with potatoes every other year. Some soils can stand that, but mine does better with a longer rest,” he said.
On some of his weaker pieces, he gives the ground seven years of rest between potato crops.
“Raising potatoes only works if you can grow potatoes with size and quality. If you raise small spuds or rough spuds, you’re in trouble,” Dwight said. “If you can raise size and quality, you can probably survive. The market has been tough lately, with the large amount of potatoes raised in this country and imported. It’s a very supply sensitive crop. If we raise 100 sacks too many nationwide, or import 100 sacks too many, the price is driven down. If it’s a short crop, everyone can make a little money, but if it’s a long crop, everyone is in trouble. What’s happened since 1996 is that we’ve basically had long crops.”
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) hasn’t helped, Dwight said processed, fresh and seed potatoes are being brought in to compete with U.S. products.
“Recently there are also some diet issues that have people worried,” Dwight said. “Consequently, french fry consumption is really down. The potato industry is trying to combat this with our advertising and educational programs.”
In addition to potatoes, the Horsch farm grows 640 acres of sugar beets that go to a local processor.
“We are members of a big co-op called Snake River Sugar Company; the members own the company. The company processing plant is where our sugar beets go. The rest of the farm is in wheat,” Dwight said.
His farm is all irrigated, with pivots and wheel lines, but the drought years still worry the Horschs.
“At the beginning of planting (mostly wheat and sugar beets, this year) it looked like we would probably be all right, but then the weather got a lot warmer a lot faster than we anticipated,” Dwight said. “Now we are starting to wonder how it will work out whether we’ll have enough water to finish the crop. At this point it looks like we’re going into another dry year and it will be a challenge trying to make it all fit. Our farm has wells on most of the land; we can get well water to most of it, which helps.”
He has good wells, with low lifts, but rising costs of power are another worry.
“You have to have the water here when possible; you can’t raise a half crop,” Dwight said.
Crop management
“We work up our fields in the fall in preparation for the next year’s potato crop, putting down fall fertilizer. I’m also a believer in use of fumigation; I also do that in the fall. In the spring we don’t have to work it very much because of the fumigation; we just work it once, mark it out and plant it. In the marker I use a mixture of micronutrients like zinc, manganese, etc. and humic acid enhancer, and 80 units of phosphate,” Dwight said. “That’s all laid right where the seed piece is going to lie. Also on the mark-out I use a systemic insecticide to protect against flying insects like aphids, potato beetles, etc.”
It’s a never-ending battle against the bugs; they’ve actually become worse since he started farming, Dwight said. There are more pests attacking the potatoes now.
“After we plant, we wait a couple weeks and then use a cultivator (dammer/dyker) to make the hills. Then we come in with a spray for weeds. I have been using a tank mix of Sencor, Prowl and Duel. My practices are very similar to those my neighbors use,” Dwight said. “The weed spray I use has the least plant-back restrictions for sugar beets, which are next in my rotation. You have to consider your following crop, with anything you put on the current crop. You have to consider what will happen 12 months from now. There are other potato chemicals that are very good and very effective, but if you use those, you have to plant something besides sugar beets as the following crop. A lot of people do that, but it’s not the program I want to use.”
“Some people plant potatoes, then wheat, then sugar beets, then wheat and then back to potatoes, but I like to follow the potatoes with sugar beets because of the carry-over of nitrogen that you might have with the potatoes. A lot of times this carry-over is sufficient enough to raise a sugar beet crop; so you get more good out of the fertilizer,” he said.
“After the spray, we watch the plants closely for diseases and bugs through the summer. I check the fields, and my help check the fields, and I hire a consultant who checks the fields twice a week. If we have a bug problem we come in with aerial spray. We may get a big influx of aphid (such as the green peach aphid) or something if the pre-plant chemicals run out,” Dwight said.
“A lot of people use ground rigs to spray for those but in my case I call in the planes. I don’t have the equipment to ground spray. My tractors have wide tires and don’t work for this. Rather than buy the equipment to do the spraying, I hire a plane,” he said.
In the fall, the water is shut off and the vines killed.
“I use acid to kill them, and hire that done, also; I have a custom applicator come in. After they dry, we beat the vines with a beater, just to get rid of them so we don’t have to fight them at harvest,” he said.
“After harvest, the potatoes are put into storage. I’m an owner in a fresh pack processing plant here in Aberdeen. All my potatoes run through that facility,” Dwight said.
Industry service
Dwight has served on the National Potato Council executive board since 1988. The executive board is made up of a president and five vice-presidents, he is the vice president of governmental and legislative affairs.
“About 80 to 90 percent of the work of the National Potato Council deals with legislative issues that affect growers like trade, chemical registrations, etc.,” Dwight said. “We work both offensively and defensively. We suggest ideas to our Congressmen and Senators that would help the industry and work defensively against legislation that will hurt our industry. People on the board testify in front of Congress and give our side of the story.”
Each state association sends representatives to the board. The Potato Growers of Idaho have sent Dwight to the board since 1988.
“You have to work your way up through a state association before you get chosen to go to the National Potato Council,” Dwight said.
He worked up through the vice president chairs and became the Potato Growers of Idaho president for two terms (in 1996 and 1997). The president of Potato Growers of Idaho traditionally has an automatic seat on the national board.
Working on the National Council takes time, but Dwight said he has never felt that service to the industry was a burden.
“It’s a necessary thing. There’s no free lunch. There are things coming at us that we have to face and attack,” Dwight said. “We generally play defense, but we do what we can. I’m now on my second term as vice president of legislative and governmental affairs, and it’s a great pleasure to work with the caliber of people I’m working with. We’ve had great presidents, and I get to work with them and the other vice presidents and the committees and see these great minds at work. They know their congressmen and senators on a first-name basis and they make a difference.”
