By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
A fourth-generation potato farm, Bushman & Associates in Wittenberg, Wisconsin, is currently under the leadership of John E. Bushman and his father, Jonathon “Jon.”
It encompasses Bushman’s Riverside Ranch, a seed potato farm, in Crivitz, that is overseen by Jeff Suchon, farm manager.
According to John E., the current Bushman & Associates was initially known as Joseph Bushman and Sons, in the 1920s through the ’40s, and consisted of 40 cows that were milked by hand and 40 acres of potatoes harvested manually.
Things changed in the 1950s with the advent of Bushman Brothers, which was founded John Bushman (father of Jon and grandfather of John E.) and his brother, Harry.
Bushman & Associates started in 1973 with Jon and bis brother, Robert. “In 1979, Jon and Robert built our current packaging shed in Galloway,” John E. says.
“In 1983, a farm in Crivitz was purchased, which is now known as Bushman’s Riverside Ranch,” he adds. “That same year, Jon and Robert created Bushman Potato Sales, a brokerage for the potatoes they were growing.”
Today, Bushman & Associates has expanded to include 550 acres of Silverton and Caribou Russet potatoes and 1,500 acres of rotational crops, which consist of soybeans, sweet corn, peas and field corn.
