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President Steve opened the meeting on Zoom
asking PP Tom Barron to lead the pledge and, PP Mike Newman, “Thought for the Day” which was the “Farmer’s Prayer”. Bill Roen was then asked to introduce the speaker.
Bill introduced Steve Cottom and his
daughter Lindsey Clarke who are
potato seed farmers. When Bill was
in Montana fly fishing, he took a tour of
Steve’s farm for seed potatoes and was
impressed with the farming enterprise.
Steve’s family has been farming potatoes for a
few generations, and the legacy is continued by his daughter Lindsey Clarke and her family. Their
operation in Dillon, Montana is large and includes a number of multi-generational employees.
On the farm they raise russet burbank potatoes to be Sold as seed potatoes to other growers and commercial operations. Seed potatoes are not the same as sprouts. These are regular potatoes which are cut up and planted to propagate additional potatoes. The resulting potatoes are sold to other enterprises such as McDonald’s where they are one of the favorite types for french fries.
Generations of seed potatoes are cultivated, and they undergo extensive testing to check for viruses. Montana State University has a certification program to oversee the
quality of the potatoes. On their farm they use pesticides when necessary. Apparently, organic farming of potatoes is not currently viable for a large operation such as theirs. However, their farm is isolated, and the soil is healthy due to tillage and rotation.
Steve and Lindsey showed videos demonstrating the scope of their operation. They also described various tasks during each season. Spring: planting and tiling; Summer: Irrigating, testing & growing; Autumn: Harvesting and Fertilizing and, Winter: selling, planning, storing, and,
Winter growing in Hawaii!!
It was an interesting and informative talk describing the effort necessary to produce he french fries at McDonald’s and the russet potatoes one finds in the grocery store.
Shout out to Darlene Fukuji from Westchester Rotary, and Rotaract members Sarah Huang & Ricky Ramirez for attending the meeting.
President Steve ended the meeting with a quote from Joy Fielding, “October was always the least dependable Month – full of ghosts and shadows.”
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