SouthWind Farms exports fresh potatoes

SouthWind Farms in Heyburn, Idaho, is now in its second full season exporting fresh potatoes to the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and Maylaysia.

The grower-shipper grows fingerlings and baby potatoes and works with Sun Fresh Export, Wada Farms Market Group and Wilcox Marketing Group to export the potatoes.

Here’s more from Magic Valley:

The ball started rolling several years ago when the company applied for a grant and went on a trade mission to Taiwan through the Western U.S. Agricultural Trade Association, an organization of the western states’ departments of agriculture.

Through a combination of that and other trade missions, and the right timing, foreign exports got underway. Tominaga said the company took a shotgun approach” by making various contracts in different countries.

[SouthWind Farms partner] Jerry Tominaga anticipates exports to at least double. Currently, foreign exports account for only about 1 percent of his business.

”