Industry titan retiring from potatoes
Agronomist. Plant breeder. Farmer. Writer. Philanthropist. Mentor. Potato ambassador. Leader.
Charles Higgins has been doing all those things for the better part of the past 50 years. He’s become so well-known through the industry, simply saying “Charlie” during a conversation is usually enough to establish Higgins as the person being referenced.
While Higgins’ contributions to the potato industry aren’t done yet, his time farming potatoes and running businesses is just about over. That included overseeing both Higgins Farms in the San Luis Valley and Norika America,
a North American-based distributor of German potato breeder Norika’s varieties.
“I sold my property; I’m just farming grandkids now,” Higgins said with a chuckle. He is looking forward to spending more time with family and working on the Ethiopian Sustainable Food Project, an initiative he founded with his wife and grower friends.
“He’s an unassuming treasure trove of knowledge,” John Lundeen, Potatoes USA director of research, said. “When you pick up the phone and call Charlie, you’re going to learn something.”
As a longtime consultant to Potatoes USA on potato variety trials, Higgins has worked closely with Lundeen on numerous projects over the years.
In fact, Lundeen said one of his first road trips on the job when he joined Potatoes USA five years ago was to Navajo Mesa Farms near the Colorado-New Mexico border.
Early in his career, Higgins served as an agronomist for the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico for 11 years. He worked with a team to develop the 70,000-acre irrigation project.
No matter the subject, Lundeen knows he can call Higgins.
“I mean, he’s just Charlie. He doesn’t brag about himself or his knowledge base,” Lundeen said. “But if you go to him and say, ‘Charlie, tell me how seed multiplication works. Charlie, tell me about this disease. Charlie, tell me about the defects in this potato. Charlie, tell me who the players are in the industry. Charlie, what’s the history of the chip trial system?’
“He’s always been a go-to (resource) about everything in the industry.”
In addition to owning and operating Higgins Farms with his daughter and son-in-law, Higgins earned a Ph.D. in plant breeding and seed production from Colorado State University in 1981.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
From 1969 to 1971, Higgins and his wife, Judy, served as Peace Corps volunteers in Ethiopia. It was there Higgins saw firsthand the famine and struggle to procure food that became a global story during the 1980s, resulting in the pop music phenomenon “We Are the World.”
Higgins’ Peace Corps experience laid the foundation for his later work in helping to establish and manage the Ethiopian Sustainable Food Project in the early 2000s. This continues to supply Ethiopian farmers with disease-free potato seed of improved varieties.
He has served as technical consultant and advocate for the National Chip Program (NCP) since 2007. Higgins has been instrumental in growing the NCP, said Alyssa Green, who works with Lundeen at Potatoes USA. His efforts include presenting at multiple conferences every year, traveling to visit growers, and making countless calls and connections to get varieties into production.
“He’s a logistics whiz,” Green said.
Higgins has done extensive agronomic consulting work during his career, including for Frito Lay International in Mexico, Thailand, China, Australia and Venezuela. Also, he consulted with many potato chip growers, including Heartland Farms, Walther Farms and others.
Higgins served as agent for Norika, a German potato breeding company, and for Irish Potato Breeders. For Norika varieties, when Higgins began managing in 1994, it was a $4,000-a-year endeavor. Under Higgins’ watch, sales grew over the years, and he and Norika created a co-owned LLC called Norika America in 2007. By 2023, it had grown into a more than $750,000-a-year business.
While Higgins’ home base was the San Luis Valley of Colorado, his work with Norika and Potatoes USA’s chip trials allowed him to work closely with seed growers throughout North America, from Maine’s Aroostook County to Washington state. Some of those farms are now being run by grandchildren of his original partners.
“I see Charlie as like the grandfather of the potato industry,” said Jason Walther, leader of Walther Farms, a multi-state operation based in Michigan.
Walther Farms is a major producer of chip and table stock potatoes that Higgins has served in consultation.
“Charlie’s knowledge of every facet of the industry is incredible — agronomy, physiology, pathology, logistics, equipment, storage, handling, economics and even the human leadership aspect of it,” Walther said. “There aren’t many people with such a comprehensive view.”
Higgins is more modest about his achievements.
“No one is an independent expert in all things potato,” he said. “I have been privileged to work with the best potato pathologists, potato breeders and physiologists in the world.”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Higgins balances his philanthropic side with a keen business sense. Disease pressure continues to drive breeding efforts, but Higgins knew decades ago that better virus-resistant varieties would also be a necessity, which is why he saw Norika as a good opportunity. Also, German consumers demand excellent flavor in potatoes. Norika varieties have earned a reputation for great flavor and texture.
“When we started, yellow varieties were 1% of the market, maybe less,” Higgins said. “Now, it’s probably 10%. The Norika varieties have claimed a big part of that. Yellow flesh varieties are the fastest-growing category in the fresh potato market.”
Higgins said trying out new varieties is a risk, and he quickly credits all the seed growers who went out on a limb.
“I think many of them have been rewarded with profitability,” he said. “The whole spectrum of seed growers is especially valuable. They’re friends and customers. All the seed growers are really important to us.”
Taking over Higgins’ role for Norika America will be Chris Long, the longtime head of the Potato Outreach Program at Michigan State University.
The potato industry has benefited greatly from Higgins’ leadership, passion and hard work, Long said.
“Charlie will still be plenty involved in consulting,” Long said. “I’ve always valued partnerships and relationships with the growers. Ultimately, my goal has always been and will continue to be to make them more profitable.”
Among Long’s goals will be to elevate the Norika brand, as well as add to its digital assets such as online databases and website development.
Norika America is a North American- based distributor of German potato breeder Norika’s varieties. Norika focuses on breeding and marketing of seed potatoes for processing.
