By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
The name T.I.P.—Tatro Irrigation & Potato—says a lot, but it doesn’t say it all. Not only does the company manufacture and deal in potato and irrigation equipment, but it has expanded over the past 46 years to offer growers an array of products, services, and technologies.
Owned by Steve Tatro, T.I.P., Inc. of Custer, Wisconsin, was started by Steve’s father, Bill, in 1976, and has expanded from offering potato equipment into irrigation, custom manufacturing, and golf course maintenance equipment.
T.I.P. imports and distributes potato equipment from Europe throughout North America, and, in recent years, has diversified into fertilizer products for potato, vegetable and fruit growers, as well as turf grass.
The company started as a Lockwood dealer and shortly thereafter became the first Double L dealer east of the Mississippi River. In the 1980’s, T.I.P., Inc. brought the first cup planters to North America from Norway (Underhaug/Kverneland).
The family-owned business continued its expansion, manufacturing a full line of turf improvement products for natural and artificial surfaces, and amassing a dealer network that stretches across the world.
More than a decade ago, T.I.P. added the AgGrow Solutions division to distribute products from several companies, including Redox, AgroLiquid, SPS, Bio SI Technologies, Ag Bio Tech and Organisan.
And there’s more to the story, according to Tatro, who was interviewed for this issue.
