A Smart Approach to Technology

A SMART APPROACH TO TECHNOLOGY

Story and photos by Denise Keller, Editor

As a 26-year-old potato grower, Adam Weber is no stranger to the challenges of farming today or to the solutions technology can offer. However, as a third-generation farmer, he also knows to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of any new technology before implementing it on his family operation. Weber farms with his father Kevin

Weber, uncle Alan Bird, brother Josh Lybbert and cousin Deven Johnson in Quincy, Washington. Weber Farms is producing 4,000 acres of potatoes this year, mostly for processing. About 35 percent of the acreage is planted in Clearwater Russet, 30 percent in Alturas, 15 percent in Umatilla Russet and the remainder in Russet Burbank and Ranger Russet. The farm also grows sweet corn and another 500 acres of apples and cherries.

The Weber family has been farming in the area since 1968 when Adam’s grandfather, Bill Weber, became one of the first farmers to grow potatoes in the Black Sands, a small area south of Interstate 90. In the 1970s, the family built a packing shed that remained the main part of the business for a couple of decades before the operation changed its focus to process potatoes. The family still operates the packing shed when fresh market prices justify the cost. Adam Weber grew up on the farm, earned a degree in business at Boise State University and then returned to the farm in fall 2016.

Facing Challenges

The majority of Weber Farms’ acreage is still in the Black Sands area. The sandy soil aids in water filtration. With no standing water, spuds have more space to grow, Weber says. However, the soil doesn’t hold nutrients as well, requiring the grower to spoon feed the crop a bit more. In addition, the Webers have used mustard crops and good rotation to build the soil through the years.

Weber also works to alleviate issues arising from water quality. He continually monitors the amount of nitrogen in the farm’s well water in order to adjust fertilizer applications accordingly. He also keeps an eye on bicarbonates in the water and adds a small amount of sulfuric acid to help pH levels.

Other typical growing challenges include weather and pests such as loopers early in the season, aphids and psyllids. Colorado potato beetles also have been more common in the last couple years, a problem Weber attributes to an increased number of organic fields neighboring his fields. To manage higher insect pressure, the grower has had to increase insecticide usage.

In addition to the increasing costs of inputs, growers in the Columbia Basin continue to see increased competition for ground to rent.

“The Columbia Basin is the best place in the world to grow crops, especially potatoes. We have the water and weather – cool nights and warm summer days,” Weber says, explaining that the region’s growing conditions are attracting more agriculture to the area, driving up the price of farm ground and making it more difficult to expand.

Embracing Technology

In the face of challenges, Weber Farms continues its tradition of utilizing the latest technology when it benefits the farm. Weber says his dad and grandpa were progressive farmers, and his dad remains receptive to technology. And now with three growers on the farm under age 40, the youngest generation is taking advantage of their familiarity with technology to analyze data and make tasks easier.

Recently, Weber Farms was able to save time – and in turn, save money – by weighing all its 10-wheel trucks in the field instead of on the scale after adding Greentronics scales to the diggers. Bypassing a trip to the scale house and instead going directly from the field to storage reduces drive time by about 20 minutes per truckload. The scales also are providing more yield monitoring information that might allow for variable rate fertilizer and fumigation in the future. The farm tested the equipment’s accuracy and value for three years before adding it to all its diggers last year.

“You have to give new technology some pause because you’re not sure if that money is going to be a worthwhile investment,” Weber points out. “Sometimes spending money on the latest and greatest doesn’t pan out. So having a hesitant approach to technology but being able to embrace it when it will improve your operation is key.”

The grower adds that although technology is second nature to him, it’s meant to complement, not replace, time in the field. He often uses a drone to gain better perspective of a problem he notices in the field. And he makes use of soil moisture probes and irrigation monitoring tools to alert him of issues, but does not rely on the technology to make irrigation decisions. Nevertheless, technology has helped make farming more efficient for his generation.

An employee at Weber Farms removes plant debris from a load of potatoes coming in from the field.

“It’s gotten easier, but we have different challenges than what older generations had,” Weber says. “We’re not going to have as much water and land in the future to grow crops, so we have to be more efficient with each acre. Historically, farmers have done a great job with that, but technology is going to be the next thing to get us there. We’ll see yields that our grandparents never even dreamed of in three generations from now. We’ll get more efficient, we’ll be able to use less input and still grow good crops.”

Looking Ahead

As a young grower, Weber has a strong interest in the future of the industry and is taking an active role in shaping it. He attended the Potato Industry Leadership Institute in 2017 and has participated in the National Potato Council’s Potato D.C. Fly-In for four years. He also has been on the Potatoes USA board of directors since March 2018 and serves on the international marketing committee. In July 2019, he was elected to the Washington State Potato Commission, where he serves on the government affairs and finance committees.

“It’s important to stay involved for the wellbeing of the industry,” Weber says. “It’s a good way to get together with other potato growers and find out the issues that are affecting them and how politics affect everybody’s business.”

Weber was involved with politics in high school and college, which was a natural springboard into potato politics. Within the potato industry, he’s particularly interested in working on immigration and trade issues. He is hopeful for improved trade opportunities and is encouraged by the positive steps that have been taken to reach agreements recently.

“Domestically, we’re not seeing huge increases in potato consumption. But around the world, we are. So access to markets is really important to us,” Weber explains.

Closer to home, the third generation at Weber Farms is concentrating on building a team environment, collaborating and communicating throughout the farm organization. At the same time, the growers remain focused on what has helped the farm become what it is today.

“My dad has always wanted us to produce the best quality potato for a multitude of reasons. It helps us sell our brand of having high quality products,” Weber says. “Everyone is working for the same goal, which is to harvest good quality potatoes.”

Impact of COVID-19

“COVID-19 has drastically changed the potato market space. With almost nobody in the world eating at restaurants, processors were forced to slow down, resulting in contracted acres to be cut. My hope is, as consumer behavior has changed, consumers will continue to find more ways to eat potatoes. The tablestock market initially saw consumers run on them, with stores running completely out of fresh potatoes. It will take months – even a year – to really see what the impact to potato growers really is.”

- Adam Weber, potato grower, Quincy, Wash.

Adam Weber sorts through freshly harvested spuds.

Clearwater Russets are piled in the field during harvest.