Key people at Valley Tissue Culture Inc., of Halstad, Minnesota, are, from left, co-founders Randy and Sandi Aarestad, flanked by their son, Charles Aarestad, and daughter, Alexandra “Alex” Bare, and her husband, Michael. Mikkel Pates / Agweek
PURE POTATOES
Valley Tissue Culture produces elite seed potatoes
By Mikkel Pates | Agweek HALSTAD, Minn. — Valley Tissue Culture, Inc. is a Red River Valley business that has grown from an experimental concept in the 1980s into a multi-generational potato seed company today. Today, Sandi Aarestad, 65, runs the business with a daughter, Alexandra “Alex” Bare, 35, and a son, Charles “Charlie,” 34. They grow and sell low-generation seed potatoes for farmers who produce seed potatoes sold to commercial growers. Other key people are Sandi’s husband and co-founder, Randy, as well as Alex’s husband, Michael Bare. Page 32 – November 2022 – West Central Tribune
The Aarestad family and their crew raise seed potatoes started in test tubes in the lab, and then grow them out in greenhouses. Valley Tissues sells to 40 customers — primarily in North Dakota and Minnesota, but also in Canada, and as far as the states of Washington and Idaho. Harvest typically runs from mid-August to mid-October. Two-thirds of the harvest is inside the greenhouse. Outside harvest is done only after the vines are dead, and the seed is no longer vulnerable to insects or pathogens.
