Michigan Potatoes - Farming, Selling, & Whatnot: 1900-1955

I worked on a potato farm when I was a teenager. Whenever I go through the produce section in any grocer or supermarket and walk by the potatoes, I get that particular whiff that takes me back to that one summer. Three buddies and I would climb into a car and drive a few miles out into the Washtenaw County countryside, down a dirt road, and up to the farm where we spent most of our summer weekdays: bagging, sorting, and loading.

Michigan just happens to rank eighth in the United States for potatoes with over 47,000 acres of spud growth that end up with a harvest of 1.7 billion pounds of potatoes every year. There are more than eighty Michigan potato farms, usually family-operated.

FAST FACTS:
1) Our tater farms add approximately $1.24 billion to the state economy
2) They produce 3,000 jobs
3) Michigan is the largest producer of potatoes for potato chips in the nation
4) Michigan potatoes fill a quarter of all bags of potato chips

KNOW YOUR SPUD – IDENTIFICATION
Red potatoes:
Deep red skin, smooth, smaller, and light brown specks
Russet potatoes:
Brown, netted skin and white flesh
White potatoes:
Thin skinned, brownish, smaller and more rounded
Yellow Potatoes:
Golden color, some look like a small russet, others more rounded

How do you like your taters?
French fried, hash browned, mashed, baked & fully loaded, scalloped, chips, pancaked.....
I don't know anyone who has ever said they don't like potatoes. No wonder it's one of Michigan's top crops. Hats off to the surviving potato farmers in Michigan! We need you to hang around... Learn a little more about Michigan potatoes here: https://www.mipotato.com/