The potatoes from last season are in storage and the company is actively shipping their seed potatoes to Florida and will ship some to North Carolina and Virginia, leading up until the end of March and April when they will shift their focus to New York.
They like to start planting around the 10th of May for the new season. "What drives what we do is what the customers want and that has changed tremendously over my lifetime," shares 75 year old Robert. "When it comes to varieties, when they want something new, that is what we immediately start to cultivate."
Not too many new varieties are planned for this year, the Juanita variety is strong in New York, along with the Lamoka and a new white table variety, NY141.
"A lot of the demand upstate is for fresh pack potatoes, the market today is all about appearance. They want a beautiful shiny potato, whether it is red, white or yellow, it's eye appeal. Taste doesn't seem to play as much of a factor any more."
To keep up with current trends, Bartlett Farms have started cultivating the Adirondack blue potato, the purple feliz and the purple fingerling. The flesh inside both the purple feliz and the purple fingerling is also purple and fits nicely into the demand for foods high in antioxidants.
"The Monona which used to be very popular, was not a beautiful potato, but in my mind was a far better eating potato than any of the varieties we are eating now. All of the old standbys have all but disappeared such as the katahdin and the green mountain to make room for the new varieties." concludes Robert.
Please visit www.mainepotatoes.com to learn more about the Maine potato industry.