July/August 2021 - 9

farmers. The landscape has changed
drastically during this century, however.
" In my lifetime, there were 60 or 70
growers around here, " Harry Strohauer
said. " There are still three or four east of
here, but we're the only one left growing
potatoes north of Denver. " To stress
how quickly potato growing dissipated
in the area, Amber added: " There were
64 potato growers in the Greeley area
when I was 10 years old (approximately
20 years ago). "
Colorado
is
divided
into
two
The Strohauer family: From left, Tad, Katie, Harry, April and Amber. Katie serves as the
operation's chief financial officer, while April is the chief operating officer. April currently
assists in operating duties.
said Amber Strohauer, Harry's oldest
daughter and chief operating officer of
the operation. " But my dad truly had
to start from scratch. We didn't have
ground or equipment or water rights. "
Strohauer Farms' evolution over
the past 46 years is a symbolic tale of
21st century American agricultural
innovation that includes both
conventional and organic farming and
growing specialty potatoes that would
have been foreign to anything Harry
knew as a boy.
CHANGING COURSE
Growing potatoes in the region north
of Denver used to be commonplace.
Strohauer Farms gradually built up its
operations as a conventional potato
grower over the latter portion of the
20th century and were surrounded
by plenty of other like-minded potato
marketing districts. District 2, which
includes the highly productive San
Luis Valley southwest of Denver, is
the predominant district today, but it
wasn't always that way. The district
where Strohauer Farms is located would
typically harvest earlier than the San
Luis Valley and traditionally supplied
fresh potatoes to retailers in late
summer. Markets shifted and storage
practices improved, which played a role
in early-harvest potatoes not having as
much demand, but the major factor that
led to the decrease in potato growing
north of Denver was water.
" Water played a really big issue in it, "
Harry said. " We even changed locations
at one point, but then, in 2012, it got so
bad to get positive water, we had to do
something. "
Added Amber: " That's really why we
got into the fingerlings and organic.
You couldn't grow crops in this area in
Spudman * July/August 2021
9

July/August 2021

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