Potato Sustainability Alliance - Grower Profile: Threemile Canyon Farms
The following is a excerpt from the Potato Sustainability Alliance's Grower Profile series. Read the full article on potatosustainabilty.org.
Farms have long emphasized the 4Rs of nutrient management – right source, right rate, right time, and right place – as keys to doing more with less.
But there is another 4R model – reduce, reuse, recycle and recover – that drives sustainable potato production at Threemile Canyon Farms (TCF) in Boardman, Ore. For the last 20 years, the diverse dairy and row crop operation has developed and implemented methods to capitalize on renewable farm resources that reduce waste and maximize efficiency.
The operation grows about 300,000 tons of more than ten different varieties of potatoes, typically planted in mid-March with a 6-row Lockwood Air Cup planter. While potatoes are processed off-site, any waste or “peels and culls” are returned to the farm and recycled as dairy feed.
