24 Years                                                            1987 - 2011
 
 

 

 

Welcome to SACKETT POTATOES!      


   

Sackett Potatoes was formed in 1987 when Alan discontinued farming with his brothers to begin a new farming operation with his 2 sons Jeff and Brian.  Alan took his 25 years of farming experience and moved 30 miles north, where he leased a 1,200 acre irrigated farm with 90,000 cwt of potato storage located in Mecosta County Michigan.  This farm was later purchased and is the base from which Sacket Potatoes is built.  The first crop consisted of 400 acres of potatoes.    

In 2011 we will be planting our 25th crop and have grown to a total of 5,800 acres.   

The primary crop grown is 3,350 acres of potatoes for the potato chip industry, marketed to E.K. Bare & Sons, Frito Lay, Inc., Snyder's-Lance Inc., Shearer's Foods and Utz Quality Foods.  Our storage capacity has grown to 1,100,000 cwt. 

1,000 acres of seed corn is grown for Pioneer Hi Bred International.

1,450 acres of field corn is marketed to local dairy farmers and elevators for feed.  


 At Sackett Potatoes we combine 40 years of potato farming experience with today's newest potato farming technology to meet the demands of modern business.  We are continually upgrding our potato storages so we have state of the art technology to deliver high quality potatoes to our customers.  Our long term crop rotation practices provide nutrient balance, prevents pest build up and avoids the establishment of resistant pest strains.

 

The original 90,000 cwt of potato storage has grown to 680,000 cwt, with a modern loading facility which has the capability of loading up to 20 semi loads of potatoes per day.  A second storage facility was added 30 miles south in Montcalm County, that will store 435,000 cwt and also has a modern loading facility with the capability of loading up to 20 semi loads per day.  All of our potato storages have been upgraded with computer controlled ventilation equipment and humicells.  This provides us full season quality to allow us to ship potatoes 11 months of the year, starting in August out of the field continuing through June out of storage.

Sackett Potatoes puts a lot of importance in having modern potato harvesting equipment, to efficiently harvest a quality crop.  Currently we are using 3 separate harvest systems, 2 of which harvest 16 rows at a time with the 3rd harvesting 12 rows.  Each harvest system is capable of harvesting 40-50 acres per day.  During harvest we dedicate 2 people to continually take samples to evaluate raw grading and black spot bruising while we are filling the storage with potatoes.  This is a management tool we use to manage potato shipping out of storage to deliver high quality potatoes to our customers.  We dedicate a full time person to do fry samples and raw grade samples on every semi load of potatoes that leaves the farm.  We also have an extensive sugar testing program which lets us monitor sugars for long term storage quality.

Irrigation is a very important part of growing a quality crop with decent yields.  Our sandy soil requires that every acre be irrigated.  Our total acreage is irrigated by 40 wells and 80 pivots, 32 of these pivots are computer controlled from our office.  We are continually upgrading our irrigation to provide better moisture control throughout the summer.

The employees at Sackett Potatoes are a valuable asset.  Without their dedication and hard work, it would be impossible to efficiently grow and harvest a quality crop.  We have approximately 30 employees year round and 75 in the fall during potato harvest.