Farm Fresh Rhode Island blog

It’s late August and fresh-dug potatoes are here, with once-a-season texture and flavor! Fresh potatoes are such a different experience that Farm Fresh RI is teaming up with RI DEM Division of Ag, Canaan Produce, 5 potato growers and a dozen groceries to make sure the fresh crop of RI potatoes stay in RI and get enjoyed by RI eaters. Our collaboration is also re-building relationships between local grocers and local potato farmers. Starting mid-September, you’ll find purple Narragansett bags at your favorite local market, with fresh-dug potatoes from:

• Ferolbink Farms in Tiverton
• Lacerda Farm in Portsmouth
• Quonset View Farm in Portsmouth
• Sampson Farms in Westport
• Young Family Farm in Little Compton

Check back for a list of participating grocers in the next few weeks, but first the back story:

Wines aren’t the only reds and whites that flourish along the RI coast. Not too long ago, the fields of Aquidneck and Sakonnet bustled with potatoes that fed New England and beyond. Our RI variety is ideal for making baked potatoes and also potato chips. So much so that Cape Cod Potato Chips began with potatoes from Maplewood Farm in Portsmouth!

The Ocean State’s coastal climate and soils still are fertile ground for spuds. But for years potato prices have stagnated and Idaho potatoes have flooded the marketplace. Local connections and farmer-grocer relationships were lost, and RI potato growers increasingly had to turn to out of state wholesalers – or else grow turf or houses. The farms that still grow food have come out wiser, and nowadays many potato farmers are diversified and grow many other veggies, too. The proliferation of farmers’ markets and recent successes in the RI farm-to-school program have also been key to securing the future of the farmland and our food supply. But RI can produce a lot more potatoes than can be sold at farmers’ markets, and yet there are a lot of Rhode Islanders getting their potatoes from Idaho because supermarkets are buying from national wholesalers. That doesn’t make sense, and it’s not good for farmers or RI.

We think revitalized farm-to-grocer connections will be a foundation for more secure farms and more secure food that will benefit Rhode Island’s farmers and eaters for generations to come. If this fall’s pilot collaboration for selling RI potatoes under the purple Narragansett label works, next year may even be the start of a RI potato growers coop (with a new logo) – not unlike what Rhody Fresh is doing for local dairies and hopefully with all the same success!