They Grow Sweet Potatoes In Canada
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After a hectic, lesson-filled year, Stephanie Lessner and her family now know it’s possible to grow sweet potatoes successfully on their Alberta farm. They also sell slips to other producers interested in growing them as a diversified crop. The family will take preorders for the slips beginning January 2022.
The 2,500 acres of irrigated grain land, 10,000 acres of native pasture and 1,000 cow-calf pairs keep the men busy. But the women in the family decided they could diversify by adding a greenhouse to grow Radiance sweet potatoes, a 110-day variety being grown in other parts of Canada.
“It was a way to increase our value without growing our land base,” Lessner says. With Canadians consuming more sweet potatoes (66,000 tons imported from the U.S. annually) and a processing plant for regular potatoes a couple of hours away, sweet potatoes seemed like a natural choice.
Lessner took a course on greenhouse agriculture and the family erected a greenhouse in February. It’s heated by a natural gas well that was drilled on the farm many years ago and grandfathered in for personal use. It’s used as the energy source on the farm for irrigation and heating buildings.
Sweet potatoes are planted in the greenhouse in February and slips are cut three times from the green vines that grow. They are planted in 6-in. raised beds after the last frost, between May 15 and June 15.
They sold some and saved the rest for planting in February to grow slips. The potatoes are stored in a temperature-controlled trailer. Initially the heat and humidity were increased to cure the potatoes. Then both were lowered with the temperature no colder than 13C (55F) for winter storage to prevent sprouting or freezing.
Lessner notes that there’s much to learn about greenhouse growing and sweet potatoes.
The biggest challenge is weed control in the field because Western Alberta doesn’t have a registered herbicide for sweet potatoes. Other provinces do, and so Lessner says they are working to change that. The family planted the slips in landscape cloth to cut down on weeds and used drip irrigation. Being able to use an herbicide and the farm’s pivot irrigation would make it easier to grow bigger plots.
In 2021, they cut about 26,000 slips and sold half and planted the rest. With only social media for marketing, there have been many inquiries and some farmers plan to increase their orders in 2022.
“Sweet potatoes have been promoted as a new superfood and that appeals to consumers, plus they are local,” Lessner says. There is also great potential in supplying locally grown slips that are hardy for Canadian growers.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alberta Sweet Potatoes, Stephanie Lessner, Box 48, Jenner, Alberta, Canada T0J 1W0 (albertasweetpotatoes@gmail.com; www.albertasweetpotatoes.com).
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They Grow Sweet Potatoes In Canada CROPS New Techniques After a hectic lesson-filled year Stephanie Lessner and her family now know it’s possible to grow sweet potatoes successfully on their Alberta farm They also sell slips to other producers interested in growing them as a diversified crop The family will take preorders for the slips beginning January 2022 The 2 500 acres of irrigated grain land 10 000 acres of native pasture and 1 000 cow-calf pairs keep the men busy But the women in the family decided they could diversify by adding a greenhouse to grow Radiance sweet potatoes a 110-day variety being grown in other parts of Canada “It was a way to increase our value without growing our land base ” Lessner says With Canadians consuming more sweet potatoes 66 000 tons imported from the U S annually and a processing plant for regular potatoes a couple of hours away sweet potatoes seemed like a natural choice Lessner took a course on greenhouse agriculture and the family erected a greenhouse in February It’s heated by a natural gas well that was drilled on the farm many years ago and grandfathered in for personal use It’s used as the energy source on the farm for irrigation and heating buildings Sweet potatoes are planted in the greenhouse in February and slips are cut three times from the green vines that grow They are planted in 6-in raised beds after the last frost between May 15 and June 15 They sold some and saved the rest for planting in February to grow slips The potatoes are stored in a temperature-controlled trailer Initially the heat and humidity were increased to cure the potatoes Then both were lowered with the temperature no colder than 13C 55F for winter storage to prevent sprouting or freezing Lessner notes that there’s much to learn about greenhouse growing and sweet potatoes The biggest challenge is weed control in the field because Western Alberta doesn’t have a registered herbicide for sweet potatoes Other provinces do and so Lessner says they are working to change that The family planted the slips in landscape cloth to cut down on weeds and used drip irrigation Being able to use an herbicide and the farm’s pivot irrigation would make it easier to grow bigger plots In 2021 they cut about 26 000 slips and sold half and planted the rest With only social media for marketing there have been many inquiries and some farmers plan to increase their orders in 2022 “Sweet potatoes have been promoted as a new superfood and that appeals to consumers plus they are local ” Lessner says There is also great potential in supplying locally grown slips that are hardy for Canadian growers Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Alberta Sweet Potatoes Stephanie Lessner Box 48 Jenner Alberta Canada T0J 1W0 albertasweetpotatoes@gmail com; www albertasweetpotatoes com
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