September 10, 2025 • 18 mins
This week, Doug Stephan (EastleighFarm.com) welcomes Andrew Mickelson, sixth-generation Idaho farmer and Chief Technology Officer at Mickelsen Farms (MickelsenFarms.com), one of the region’s largest potato producers.
The Mickelsen family has been growing potatoes and grains for generations, building a legacy rooted in hard work, innovation, and community. Andrew shares insights into the family’s diverse operations — from growing Russet Burbank and Norkotah potatoes for the fresh market, to producing seed potatoes under Yellowstone Seed, to packing and processing through Rigby Produce and Potato Products of Idaho.
In addition to running day-to-day farm operations, Andrew is also a strong advocate for the Right to Repair movement, pushing for farmers to have access to the tools and diagnostic codes needed to fix their own equipment.
His leadership highlights how family farmers are not just feeding America, but also shaping the future of agriculture.
Tune in to hear Andrew’s story of family, advocacy, and the technology that keeps America’s farms thriving.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
Social Media: @GoodDayNetworks
The Mickelsen family has been growing potatoes and grains for generations, building a legacy rooted in hard work, innovation, and community. Andrew shares insights into the family’s diverse operations — from growing Russet Burbank and Norkotah potatoes for the fresh market, to producing seed potatoes under Yellowstone Seed, to packing and processing through Rigby Produce and Potato Products of Idaho.
In addition to running day-to-day farm operations, Andrew is also a strong advocate for the Right to Repair movement, pushing for farmers to have access to the tools and diagnostic codes needed to fix their own equipment.
His leadership highlights how family farmers are not just feeding America, but also shaping the future of agriculture.
Tune in to hear Andrew’s story of family, advocacy, and the technology that keeps America’s farms thriving.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
Social Media: @GoodDayNetworks
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The American Family Farmer podcast, sponsored in part by Caldron,
The Safe, proven Way to Lose weight. Check it all
out at toploss dot com. I'm Doug Stephan. This is
the American Family Farmer on our program a discussion. Are
laize potato chips they use, or at least they say
they use, real potatoes grown on family farms all across America.
(00:23):
So in order to address that issue and that fact,
if it's a fact, We've invited Andrew Mickelson, who is
the chief operating officer of the Imperial Farm, Mickelson's farm
in Roberts, Idaho. We all know the story about Idaho potatoes.
We certainly hear a lot of that, not only from
(00:43):
the folks at Lays, but McDonald's. So let's find out
how this actually works and find out what kind of
potatoes you're eating or if they're all the same, maybe
there are different varieties.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Andrew, Welcome to the American Family Farmer.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Thanks for welcoming me. I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
So tell us the story about your farm and what
goes on on your farm. Specific Are you a farm kid?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
You grow up on the farm.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Yep, So I'm a sixth generation I know potato farmer,
our family farmer, and its current formats started just a
year or two before I was born. I think it
was nineteen eighty eight, and we have been focused on
potatoes through and through every chance we get.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So what does that mean? How much acreage do you have?
What kind of volume are you doing? Who are your customers?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
That we're going to have that conversation from now until
the end of our time.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
But yeah, I guess probably some people think, who aren't
very smart, that a potato is a potato is a potato,
or maybe they say you say potato, I say potato.
But nothing could be further from the truth. How many
different varieties of potatoes, not just an Idaho but all
around the country. How many different kinds of potatoes are there?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Well, that's a tough question.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I don't know the answer off the top of my head,
but I know that we ourselves grow probably six or
seven different varieties, and I think that number just goes
up and up and up, depending on how specific you
want to get. Sometimes there's a red potato, but there
are many many subsets underneath that. For example, we're growing
(02:17):
some yellow potatoes and we have three different varieties but
when you get at the grocery store, you're probably not
gonna care.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So well that may or may not be Maybe we
need to educate. Although the program that we're doing is
aimed at family farmers, but there are lots of people
listening on the one hundreds of radio stage that carry
this program who are rural listeners.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Some of them are suburban listeners.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Some of them are folks in the city that are
buying various potato Maybe we should tell them even if
they don't care. Maybe they don't care because they don't know.
Maybe if they knew the difference between a russet and
a chieftain, and a yellow potato and a red potato,
and whether or not there was different nutritional value to them,
they might pay more attention.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
You know, I think that's true. There are quite a
few different qualities. Even on your brown potatoes, you'll find
some that are drastically different.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
For the most part, though nutrition value is fairly similar.
But you have a lot of other.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Things like flavor and the fluffiness of it that all
come into play. But one of the problems we're seeing
is is people just don't seem to care as much
anymore as long as it looks pretty.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I know, and that kind of gives you a chance
to sell the ones that aren't pretty to the people
who are making French fries right, because they don't care
whether they're pretty or they're not pretty.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
They just want to cut them up and fry them
up and serve them up.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm Doug Stephan and she's not. She could be Elizabeth Miller. However,
as a matter of fact, she is.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Elizabeth Miller.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Is one of the great reasons for going to toploss
dot com and engaging in the work of calitrin getting
that weight off the natural way different.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Than everything else up there, because it's really good for you.
It's actually drug free, stimulant free, so it's good for you.
We've been helping customers since nineteen ninety seven. It's that's
over for two hundred thousand happy customers. So I know
that we just helped people all over the United States
lose weight. So if you go to toploss dot com,
you'll see the counter and sell right there. But we
do also, like Dougs, had put together custom packages. Usually
(04:23):
they're available by email or our Facebook page, or you
can call us and we'll put together something custom for you.
That will also have some special pricing on there. And
then of course Doug has a promo code. If you
use the promo code Doug, that's going to save you
on shipping on all orders.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Elizabeth Miller from the folks at cald Tren Thanks Elizabeth.
Back on the American Family Farmer.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Idaho is a big potato growing state.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Certainly one of the things that as a kid growing
up on a farm that produced all sorts of things,
we grew lots potatoes. I remember how awful it was.
My daughter reminds me all the time about how many
hours she used to spend cutting up potatoes to make
sure that there was an eye in each.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Of the pieces.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And usually I mean I did that as a kid
as well, in planting them and then loving them. I've
always loved potatoes. I love mashed potatoes, I love baked potatoes.
I love French fries.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
They're just yummy.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
But when we were kids, and I don't know, did
you do the same thing or are you so mechanized
that you didn't have to take a knife and sit
on a stool and cut a bag after bag after bag.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
That was that was a little before my time.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Pretty mechanical now, but when you're starting to deal with
the acres that we deal with, it just it.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I'm sure it's hard to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, yeah, too much time. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Are you using your own seat potatoes? Do you save
certain numbers of the various varieties that you grow so
you replant them every year from your own work?
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, we've been kind of Berkeley in a so that's
a big part of our operation is as we grow
seed that we use for ourselves and sell to others.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Most people don't know that you just for a seat potato.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
You just take a regular potato that's probably a little healthier,
cut it up and plant it again.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Right, that's you know, it's it does seem simple, but
yet it isn't because there are so many different varieties.
What happens if you mix them up, is that sort
of a hybridization.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Is that what you can?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Can you create new types of potatoes by just mixing
the seed potatoes up?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah don't. I don't think that works.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
You just end up with some reds and yellows and
brown ones all mixed together, and then it's really hard
to market them. It's a little more complex. There's breeding
programs but they take a lot of work. It's not
just accidental all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Different labels do you sell two different like who is
your biggest commercial customer? Who would be the person buying
the most of the potatoes that you raise?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And what are we talking about in terms of volume?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, so we actually focus on the fresh market.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
So our customers are your grocery stores, your food service,
so your restaurants. Basically, when it comes to fresh I
can pretty much guarantee you've probably had one of our potatoes.
I think we grow almost five percent of the fresh
potatoes in the country.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Wow, that's cool. How do you that? That is very cool?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Actually, how many acres do you have that you're putting
into potatoes every year?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
We do about ten thousand acres of potatoes every year.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
And how do you keep the soil fresh? What do
you do to make sure that what you're growing the
soil has the best components in it so that you
can assure the people of your customers of quality and
you know, basically integrity.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Yeah, you know, sustainability has been a big part art
of what we're doing regenitor of whatever you want to
call it there, but for us, a lot of compost,
manure products like that, biologicals. We've learned as time goes
on that all of these things are very important to
keeping that soil healthy and ready to grow great potato crops.
(08:18):
We also have volcanic soil here in Idaho. That makes
a big difference in the fresh potatoes as well.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
When you say volcanic, explain that to the unwashed.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Yeah, So, Idaho basically everyone's heard of the yellstone called air,
but basically all of Idaho, the southern half, has been
a series of volcanic called airs all the way across
the state. So our soil is very rich in volcanic properties.
That adds a little bit extra flavor and kick to
your potatoes.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Flavor and kick.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Flavor, flavor flavor yeah know did it say? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Flavor and kick, which means there's value to a lot
of people think that potatoes have no value. The skin
is what's valuable. What is the nutrition quotient of the
inside and the outside of a potato?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Well, most I think it's like ninety percent of the
good stuff's on the outside.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
That's actually my favorite part grown up.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
I never I never want to eat the skin now,
that's the only part I want to eat so.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, but you have then need for what is anybody
selling skins? I mean, when you go to a restaurant,
they may serve you what they call a potato skin,
but it's got potato in it. Is there any is
there business in just skinning a potato and selling the skin.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You know, they're still trying to get a lot rid
of a lot of the skins. Most processors don't like them.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know. It's cool to see some of these French
fry guys though that sell them with the skins on.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I think it adds to them.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it does in a manner of speaking.
So under the circumstance is what do you find? And
you have three different locations. I was noticing looking to
your website. But by the way, going to the website
very very interesting. Michelsonfarms dot com m I C K
E L S E N Michelsonfarms dot com.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
The the business of what questions you get from people
and what you know, I guess in trying to figure
out what it is that would turn someone on to
growing potatoes. Not that I want to increase your you know,
the kind.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Of composition you have.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
But yeah, well the demand I think again, Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
We do need more demand. It's that supply that we
got to keep keep cut down.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
So yeah, there is Idaho the biggest state for growing potatoes.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Yes, absolutely, by a pretty pretty good margin. That's that's
hash crop wise, that's what we focus on. Potatoes also
very irrigation intensive and so on a really dry year
like this, that's been the benefit we have because we
have so much water. We fight about it all the time,
but it's the consistent watering that can really make a
(11:13):
difference in a potato crop.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
So who's working, who in the family is on the farm,
what do you have for labor? You may have heard
me talking earlier before you came on about the immigration
problems and what situations are existing. I was talking about
a lady who was a cherry farmer lost seventy percent
of her crop. People here where I am in the
(11:36):
Northeast are losing left and right. Understanding that the immigration
problem is a problem, but in dealing with it, I'm
just curious as to how if you have that issue,
and if you do, how you're dealing with it.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
You know, every farmer has that issue.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
We have a lot of family members involved, my dad,
my mother, sister, brother, brother in law. But on an
operation our size, that's only a small portion, and we
have probably forty fifty other full time people that are
helping us out, and then we'll bring in one hundred
and twenty people on the H.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
To A program.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
All of this is very important for us to be
able to get our crops out. We have a very
short window in the fall to be able to get
our potatoes out, and if we don't have the help,
they're going to freeze in the ground.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Even this year, we're.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Delayed a week because there were rule changes saying that
there has to be in person interviews when there wasn't before,
and so now we're in more of a crunch time
than ever before trying to make sure we can get
those out in time.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
When you say in prison interviews, who's doing the interviewing.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
The consulates, so down in Mexico you have to set
up appointments, get them into meet with somebody from the
consulate that can just take a couple minutes and make
sure that they like them enough to send them, and
sometimes they won't.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So these are not people that are there. You have
the H two A program is a seasonal program. You
don't need people all year long, so each year you're
required to do sort of Well, now there's a different
way of doing it. Do you mind spending a moment
or two just telling us what you've had to go through,
because I haven't found anybody.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I've just been talking to people on.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
This part of throwing their hands up in the air
and said, we don't know what to do because we're
not getting any instruction or help from the government. They
just say, we can't. You can't have these people. So
if you maybe can shed some light on what you've
been doing, it might help a lot of people listening
who don't know what to do because they're not getting
instruction from the government.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
The HWA program is a valuable program that allows us
to basically ask the government for permission to bring these
workers in and so we get a basic permission from them.
Then we go and we generally you get intermediaries to help,
but we have to go and then get a list
of people. Sometimes you can people that help you do that,
(14:01):
but we already know people. Then those people have to
go send in all this paperwork, all this vetting. You
have to pay to bring them here, pay to house them,
stuff like that, and there is an avenue. But then
you're also paying generally more per hour for these people.
Our cost on them is over twenty dollars an hour
(14:21):
to bring them here, pay them and all the other
stuff we have to do, so it's not a cheap alternative.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Well what the other alternatives to hire local people? Can
you find local people to work on your farm?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
That's on the aim.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
The President says, We've got to get more Americans to
fill these jobs. So is that a possibility where you
are in Idaho?
Speaker 4 (14:41):
You know, I think that's the possibility for the full
time people, although that is difficult. But on these seasonal people,
how do you get somebody that can take three weeks
off of their job, come work for you and then
go back to their job again. It's just really hard
to find people like that. Our unemployment's too low to
have that many people just waiting there.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
That's an interesting way of looking at it, and it
gives people something to think about. The American Family Farmer
program on the air every week actually every weekend. You
can hear it on the radio, but you can also
hear the podcast anytime you want. You're listening to podcasts
on various downloadable facilities. Wherever you get your podcasts, you
can find Americanfamilyfarmershow dot com. That's Americanfamilyfarmershow dot com, brought
(15:24):
to you in part by the folks at Caltrin, who
are offering a transformational pack. That is, if you want
to lose weight and keep it off, a reminder to
go to toploss dot com, which is their website, and
this weekend you're going to see the Transformation Pack that's back.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
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(16:03):
right away. And when you're checking out use the DOUG
code d O U G. You get the best deal
like the one I just outlined and free shipping. That's
top loss dot com. We're talking to Andrew Mickelson from
mickleson Farms and Roberts, Idaho. You're a CV says you're
the COO.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Of Imperial Farms.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
What how what's the religion of Imperial Farm to Michelson Farm.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
For us, we just have three major growing areas that
we focus on, and so that's what we call.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
We have names for each of our different farms. So ah, okay,
just it helps us keep it straight.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So I also see that your sister, who apparently is
the CFO is the state rep.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Is that right, you've that's.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
That's actually our mother she.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
So yeah, for us, for advocacy is huge, meaning out Okay,
we want to teach everybody about what we're doing, and
it's important to be making laws and policy that helps
farmers stay in business.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
M Well, that's the number one reason for this program
existing as well. I notice on your website again, I'll
send people to Mickelsonfarms dot com. On the bottom of
one of the pages it says looking for work, have
a question, get in touch so you can go. If
you're looking for work on a farm like this, it
(17:29):
looks like a great, very healthy farm. We like healthy
farms in America, and whether the labor situation gets better
or not, you still have a very healthy operation. So
that's another thing. Everybody looking I am looking for help
on my farm. I can't find it.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
We all want to.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, people don't want to work, or they don't know,
they don't understand farming anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It's kind of a dangerous reality anyway.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It looks like not a job, it's a calling.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yes it is.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
It's a way of life. Frankly, Andrew Mickelson from Michelson
Farms and Roberts, Idaho, Congratulations.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Kind of fun to know.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
The next time I eat a potato at least five
percent of it's going to have been from your farm.
I'll get a bag of one hundred potatoes and I'll
know one of them came from you.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Good to have you, Andrew, yep. Good. Your family appreciate
having you here.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
This program was produced at bob k Sound and Recording.
Please visit bobksound dot com. The American Family Farmer podcast
sponsored in part by Caldron, which is the safe way
for you to lose weight and keep it off.
The American Family Farmer podcast, sponsored in part by Caldron,
The Safe, proven Way to Lose weight. Check it all
out at toploss dot com. I'm Doug Stephan. This is
the American Family Farmer on our program a discussion. Are
laize potato chips they use, or at least they say
they use, real potatoes grown on family farms all across America.
(00:23):
So in order to address that issue and that fact,
if it's a fact, We've invited Andrew Mickelson, who is
the chief operating officer of the Imperial Farm, Mickelson's farm
in Roberts, Idaho. We all know the story about Idaho potatoes.
We certainly hear a lot of that, not only from
(00:43):
the folks at Lays, but McDonald's. So let's find out
how this actually works and find out what kind of
potatoes you're eating or if they're all the same, maybe
there are different varieties.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Andrew, Welcome to the American Family Farmer.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Thanks for welcoming me. I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
So tell us the story about your farm and what
goes on on your farm. Specific Are you a farm kid?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
You grow up on the farm.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Yep, So I'm a sixth generation I know potato farmer,
our family farmer, and its current formats started just a
year or two before I was born. I think it
was nineteen eighty eight, and we have been focused on
potatoes through and through every chance we get.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So what does that mean? How much acreage do you have?
What kind of volume are you doing? Who are your customers?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
That we're going to have that conversation from now until
the end of our time.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
But yeah, I guess probably some people think, who aren't
very smart, that a potato is a potato is a potato,
or maybe they say you say potato, I say potato.
But nothing could be further from the truth. How many
different varieties of potatoes, not just an Idaho but all
around the country. How many different kinds of potatoes are there?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Well, that's a tough question.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I don't know the answer off the top of my head,
but I know that we ourselves grow probably six or
seven different varieties, and I think that number just goes
up and up and up, depending on how specific you
want to get. Sometimes there's a red potato, but there
are many many subsets underneath that. For example, we're growing
(02:17):
some yellow potatoes and we have three different varieties but
when you get at the grocery store, you're probably not
gonna care.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So well that may or may not be Maybe we
need to educate. Although the program that we're doing is
aimed at family farmers, but there are lots of people
listening on the one hundreds of radio stage that carry
this program who are rural listeners.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Some of them are suburban listeners.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Some of them are folks in the city that are
buying various potato Maybe we should tell them even if
they don't care. Maybe they don't care because they don't know.
Maybe if they knew the difference between a russet and
a chieftain, and a yellow potato and a red potato,
and whether or not there was different nutritional value to them,
they might pay more attention.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
You know, I think that's true. There are quite a
few different qualities. Even on your brown potatoes, you'll find
some that are drastically different.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
For the most part, though nutrition value is fairly similar.
But you have a lot of other.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Things like flavor and the fluffiness of it that all
come into play. But one of the problems we're seeing
is is people just don't seem to care as much
anymore as long as it looks pretty.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I know, and that kind of gives you a chance
to sell the ones that aren't pretty to the people
who are making French fries right, because they don't care
whether they're pretty or they're not pretty.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
They just want to cut them up and fry them
up and serve them up.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm Doug Stephan and she's not. She could be Elizabeth Miller. However,
as a matter of fact, she is.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Elizabeth Miller.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Is one of the great reasons for going to toploss
dot com and engaging in the work of calitrin getting
that weight off the natural way different.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Than everything else up there, because it's really good for you.
It's actually drug free, stimulant free, so it's good for you.
We've been helping customers since nineteen ninety seven. It's that's
over for two hundred thousand happy customers. So I know
that we just helped people all over the United States
lose weight. So if you go to toploss dot com,
you'll see the counter and sell right there. But we
do also, like Dougs, had put together custom packages. Usually
(04:23):
they're available by email or our Facebook page, or you
can call us and we'll put together something custom for you.
That will also have some special pricing on there. And
then of course Doug has a promo code. If you
use the promo code Doug, that's going to save you
on shipping on all orders.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Elizabeth Miller from the folks at cald Tren Thanks Elizabeth.
Back on the American Family Farmer.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Idaho is a big potato growing state.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Certainly one of the things that as a kid growing
up on a farm that produced all sorts of things,
we grew lots potatoes. I remember how awful it was.
My daughter reminds me all the time about how many
hours she used to spend cutting up potatoes to make
sure that there was an eye in each.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Of the pieces.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And usually I mean I did that as a kid
as well, in planting them and then loving them. I've
always loved potatoes. I love mashed potatoes, I love baked potatoes.
I love French fries.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
They're just yummy.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
But when we were kids, and I don't know, did
you do the same thing or are you so mechanized
that you didn't have to take a knife and sit
on a stool and cut a bag after bag after bag.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
That was that was a little before my time.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Pretty mechanical now, but when you're starting to deal with
the acres that we deal with, it just it.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I'm sure it's hard to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, yeah, too much time. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Are you using your own seat potatoes? Do you save
certain numbers of the various varieties that you grow so
you replant them every year from your own work?
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, we've been kind of Berkeley in a so that's
a big part of our operation is as we grow
seed that we use for ourselves and sell to others.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Most people don't know that you just for a seat potato.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
You just take a regular potato that's probably a little healthier,
cut it up and plant it again.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Right, that's you know, it's it does seem simple, but
yet it isn't because there are so many different varieties.
What happens if you mix them up, is that sort
of a hybridization.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Is that what you can?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Can you create new types of potatoes by just mixing
the seed potatoes up?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah don't. I don't think that works.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
You just end up with some reds and yellows and
brown ones all mixed together, and then it's really hard
to market them. It's a little more complex. There's breeding
programs but they take a lot of work. It's not
just accidental all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Different labels do you sell two different like who is
your biggest commercial customer? Who would be the person buying
the most of the potatoes that you raise?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And what are we talking about in terms of volume?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, so we actually focus on the fresh market.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
So our customers are your grocery stores, your food service,
so your restaurants. Basically, when it comes to fresh I
can pretty much guarantee you've probably had one of our potatoes.
I think we grow almost five percent of the fresh
potatoes in the country.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Wow, that's cool. How do you that? That is very cool?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Actually, how many acres do you have that you're putting
into potatoes every year?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
We do about ten thousand acres of potatoes every year.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
And how do you keep the soil fresh? What do
you do to make sure that what you're growing the
soil has the best components in it so that you
can assure the people of your customers of quality and
you know, basically integrity.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Yeah, you know, sustainability has been a big part art
of what we're doing regenitor of whatever you want to
call it there, but for us, a lot of compost,
manure products like that, biologicals. We've learned as time goes
on that all of these things are very important to
keeping that soil healthy and ready to grow great potato crops.
(08:18):
We also have volcanic soil here in Idaho. That makes
a big difference in the fresh potatoes as well.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
When you say volcanic, explain that to the unwashed.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Yeah, So, Idaho basically everyone's heard of the yellstone called air,
but basically all of Idaho, the southern half, has been
a series of volcanic called airs all the way across
the state. So our soil is very rich in volcanic properties.
That adds a little bit extra flavor and kick to
your potatoes.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Flavor and kick.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Flavor, flavor flavor yeah know did it say? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Flavor and kick, which means there's value to a lot
of people think that potatoes have no value. The skin
is what's valuable. What is the nutrition quotient of the
inside and the outside of a potato?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Well, most I think it's like ninety percent of the
good stuff's on the outside.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
That's actually my favorite part grown up.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
I never I never want to eat the skin now,
that's the only part I want to eat so.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, but you have then need for what is anybody
selling skins? I mean, when you go to a restaurant,
they may serve you what they call a potato skin,
but it's got potato in it. Is there any is
there business in just skinning a potato and selling the skin.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You know, they're still trying to get a lot rid
of a lot of the skins. Most processors don't like them.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know. It's cool to see some of these French
fry guys though that sell them with the skins on.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I think it adds to them.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it does in a manner of speaking.
So under the circumstance is what do you find? And
you have three different locations. I was noticing looking to
your website. But by the way, going to the website
very very interesting. Michelsonfarms dot com m I C K
E L S E N Michelsonfarms dot com.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
The the business of what questions you get from people
and what you know, I guess in trying to figure
out what it is that would turn someone on to
growing potatoes. Not that I want to increase your you know,
the kind.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Of composition you have.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
But yeah, well the demand I think again, Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
We do need more demand. It's that supply that we
got to keep keep cut down.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
So yeah, there is Idaho the biggest state for growing potatoes.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Yes, absolutely, by a pretty pretty good margin. That's that's
hash crop wise, that's what we focus on. Potatoes also
very irrigation intensive and so on a really dry year
like this, that's been the benefit we have because we
have so much water. We fight about it all the time,
but it's the consistent watering that can really make a
(11:13):
difference in a potato crop.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
So who's working, who in the family is on the farm,
what do you have for labor? You may have heard
me talking earlier before you came on about the immigration
problems and what situations are existing. I was talking about
a lady who was a cherry farmer lost seventy percent
of her crop. People here where I am in the
(11:36):
Northeast are losing left and right. Understanding that the immigration
problem is a problem, but in dealing with it, I'm
just curious as to how if you have that issue,
and if you do, how you're dealing with it.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
You know, every farmer has that issue.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
We have a lot of family members involved, my dad,
my mother, sister, brother, brother in law. But on an
operation our size, that's only a small portion, and we
have probably forty fifty other full time people that are
helping us out, and then we'll bring in one hundred
and twenty people on the H.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
To A program.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
All of this is very important for us to be
able to get our crops out. We have a very
short window in the fall to be able to get
our potatoes out, and if we don't have the help,
they're going to freeze in the ground.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Even this year, we're.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Delayed a week because there were rule changes saying that
there has to be in person interviews when there wasn't before,
and so now we're in more of a crunch time
than ever before trying to make sure we can get
those out in time.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
When you say in prison interviews, who's doing the interviewing.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
The consulates, so down in Mexico you have to set
up appointments, get them into meet with somebody from the
consulate that can just take a couple minutes and make
sure that they like them enough to send them, and
sometimes they won't.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So these are not people that are there. You have
the H two A program is a seasonal program. You
don't need people all year long, so each year you're
required to do sort of Well, now there's a different
way of doing it. Do you mind spending a moment
or two just telling us what you've had to go through,
because I haven't found anybody.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I've just been talking to people on.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
This part of throwing their hands up in the air
and said, we don't know what to do because we're
not getting any instruction or help from the government. They
just say, we can't. You can't have these people. So
if you maybe can shed some light on what you've
been doing, it might help a lot of people listening
who don't know what to do because they're not getting
instruction from the government.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
The HWA program is a valuable program that allows us
to basically ask the government for permission to bring these
workers in and so we get a basic permission from them.
Then we go and we generally you get intermediaries to help,
but we have to go and then get a list
of people. Sometimes you can people that help you do that,
(14:01):
but we already know people. Then those people have to
go send in all this paperwork, all this vetting. You
have to pay to bring them here, pay to house them,
stuff like that, and there is an avenue. But then
you're also paying generally more per hour for these people.
Our cost on them is over twenty dollars an hour
(14:21):
to bring them here, pay them and all the other
stuff we have to do, so it's not a cheap alternative.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Well what the other alternatives to hire local people? Can
you find local people to work on your farm?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
That's on the aim.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
The President says, We've got to get more Americans to
fill these jobs. So is that a possibility where you
are in Idaho?
Speaker 4 (14:41):
You know, I think that's the possibility for the full
time people, although that is difficult. But on these seasonal people,
how do you get somebody that can take three weeks
off of their job, come work for you and then
go back to their job again. It's just really hard
to find people like that. Our unemployment's too low to
have that many people just waiting there.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
That's an interesting way of looking at it, and it
gives people something to think about. The American Family Farmer
program on the air every week actually every weekend. You
can hear it on the radio, but you can also
hear the podcast anytime you want. You're listening to podcasts
on various downloadable facilities. Wherever you get your podcasts, you
can find Americanfamilyfarmershow dot com. That's Americanfamilyfarmershow dot com, brought
(15:24):
to you in part by the folks at Caltrin, who
are offering a transformational pack. That is, if you want
to lose weight and keep it off, a reminder to
go to toploss dot com, which is their website, and
this weekend you're going to see the Transformation Pack that's back.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
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(16:03):
right away. And when you're checking out use the DOUG
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like the one I just outlined and free shipping. That's
top loss dot com. We're talking to Andrew Mickelson from
mickleson Farms and Roberts, Idaho. You're a CV says you're
the COO.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Of Imperial Farms.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
What how what's the religion of Imperial Farm to Michelson Farm.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
For us, we just have three major growing areas that
we focus on, and so that's what we call.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
We have names for each of our different farms. So ah, okay,
just it helps us keep it straight.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So I also see that your sister, who apparently is
the CFO is the state rep.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Is that right, you've that's.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
That's actually our mother she.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
So yeah, for us, for advocacy is huge, meaning out Okay,
we want to teach everybody about what we're doing, and
it's important to be making laws and policy that helps
farmers stay in business.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
M Well, that's the number one reason for this program
existing as well. I notice on your website again, I'll
send people to Mickelsonfarms dot com. On the bottom of
one of the pages it says looking for work, have
a question, get in touch so you can go. If
you're looking for work on a farm like this, it
(17:29):
looks like a great, very healthy farm. We like healthy
farms in America, and whether the labor situation gets better
or not, you still have a very healthy operation. So
that's another thing. Everybody looking I am looking for help
on my farm. I can't find it.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
We all want to.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, people don't want to work, or they don't know,
they don't understand farming anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It's kind of a dangerous reality anyway.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It looks like not a job, it's a calling.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yes it is.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
It's a way of life. Frankly, Andrew Mickelson from Michelson
Farms and Roberts, Idaho, Congratulations.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Kind of fun to know.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
The next time I eat a potato at least five
percent of it's going to have been from your farm.
I'll get a bag of one hundred potatoes and I'll
know one of them came from you.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Good to have you, Andrew, yep. Good. Your family appreciate
having you here.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
This program was produced at bob k Sound and Recording.
Please visit bobksound dot com. The American Family Farmer podcast
sponsored in part by Caldron, which is the safe way
for you to lose weight and keep it off.
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