April 2021 - 10

surrounding area. At one point, the CSA
sold 1,300 boxes a week, Jesse Perkins
said. They got into seed potatoes about
11 years later and have continued since
that time. Two years ago, Jesse decided
to scale down operations to concentrate
on the seed potatoes as well as devoting
more time to his young family.
As a CSA, they were farming about
20 acres of vegetables and 10 acres of
potatoes, he said. Last year was the first
year they didn't run the CSA, and grew
about nine acres of the potatoes.
David, who has an agronomy degree,
Vermont Valley Community Farm, located west of Madison, grows nearly 20 varieties of
organic seed potatoes, ranging from russets, such as Goldrush, to whites, reds, yellows and
specialty varieties.
self-contained process appeals to a lot
of customers. " It's basically just selling a
very high-quality process, " Perkins said.
BUILDING UP
Vermont Valley Community Farm
is nestled in the driftless
region of
Southeast Wisconsin, which features
steep hills with shallow topsoil, and
valleys with silt loam soils. Much of the
area's potatoes are grown in the sandy
loam of the Wisconsin River Valley.
David and Barb started the farm as a
CSA in 1994, growing produce for the
is still the resident expert on soil, and as
president of the Midwest Organic and
Sustainable Education Service (MOSES),
is very dedicated to organic soil building.
" In organic production, nothing is
put into the soil to kill organisms; rather
we encourage a healthy biology in the
soil, " he said. " Through a healthy living
soil, our goal is to manage unwanted
organisms reducing their impact to a
tolerable level. Our soil health strategy
relies on cover cropping and rotations. "
His choice of cover crops has been
based on soil types, goals and rotations.
" Cover crops have primarily been
legumes (clovers, alfalfa,
grasses (winter rye, oats), " he said.
" Soil
amendments
peas) and
are used to
supplement fertility needs of specific
crops, and for potatoes that is very
significant; including mineral sources
of potassium, phosphorus, calcium and
sulfur; and meal nitrogen sources such
as cottonseed and soybean meal. "
HEALTHY SOIL, HEALTHY SEED
The high-quality process is what sells
the seed potatoes, as Jesse said, so a
lot of work goes into making sure the
potatoes are clean and healthy.
Foundation-level seed stock comes
from the Wisconsin seed potato program,
which for each variety propagates
genetically-identical plantlets through
tissue culture, and grows mini-tubers
from those plants under hoop houses,
Jesse said. The first- or second-generation
mini-tubers they plant are guaranteed to
be free of any viruses.
" We grow it out just like you would a
regular potato, " Jesse said. " During the
season we have two field inspections.
The inspectors come down, walk
the field and look for any diseases or
10
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April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2021

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