Badger Common’Tater February 2018 Issue
Interview with Adam Flyte
Adam Flyte is continuing a tradition of growing potatoes that his grandfather began. “I love the challenge of a crop that requires intense management,” Adam says.
From Goldrush and Silverton potatoes to hydroponic tomatoes, Flyte Family Farms thrives on diversity. It is a cornucopia of potatoes, tomatoes, field corn and sweet corn, sweet potatoes, soybeans, hay, peas, snap beans, strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, peppers and even livestock.
Adam Flyte is one of three children born to Lee and Cheryl Flyte, who began Flyte Family Farm more than 40 years go. Adam fondly recalls riding with his mom on their Honey Bee Farmall tractor to cultivate, and takes pride in seeing his kids take turns on the same tractor with their grandmother.
Lee and Cheryl started their farm near Coloma, Wisconsin, by growing melons and tomatoes, and today, their son, J.R., farms the 150-plus-acre family farmstead, providing produce to 15 farm markets in Central Wisconsin.
Adam and sister, Jessica, play crucial roles in the success of the vegetable business.
Upon graduation from the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Platteville, in 1999, Adam and his wife, Carrie, made plans to diversify and start writing their own chapter in the legacy of the farm.
Carrie and Adam farm 3,100 acres, manage six greenhouses and finish 450 steers annually. They raise nearly 10 acres of strawberries and blueberries, and 750 acres of Goldrush, Silverton, Jelly and Burbank potatoes, of which 100 acres are certified organic.
The Flytes also grow small Creamer Potatoes for The Little Potato Company.
