Potato growers stress that retail customers and consumers care about food origins
By Joe Kertzman, Badger Common’Tater
“The Wisconsin Healthy Grown program brings awareness to what we as potato farmers do every day to be stewards of the land,” says Christine Lindner, marketing manager for Alsum Farms & Produce.
“It creates a brand for eco-friendly Wisconsin grown potatoes and communicates our commitment to consumers that they are getting a product that is grown in a sustainable manner,” she stresses.
Alsum Farms has been a part of the Healthy Grown program since its inception, in 1996. The grower, shipper and packer from Friesland, Wisconsin, highlights the Healthy Grown program and commitment to sustainable farming in its marketing messages to customers.
“We have also utilized the Healthy Grown promotional and merchandising materials to help educate Wisconsin consumers and elevate sales at retail,” Lindner explains.
She says, fundamentally, one of greatest benefits of Healthy Grown is it gives potato farmers a cohesive stewardship story to tell business partners and government officials at state and local levels.
The Healthy Grown program provides a framework and formalized way to capture what many potato growers are already doing.
As more customers implement “Corporate Responsibility” initiatives, they look to their partner suppliers, Lindner details, for formalized Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plans, and pollinator and sustainability programs that are being conducted on farms.
