Recently, Lay’s potato chips launched its national Betcha the Farm campaign, that spotlights Alberta potato farmers, including Coaldale area farmer Chris Perry.
Lay’s uses 800 million Canadian potatoes every year, from family farms across Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and PEI.
Perry’s family farm has partnered with Lay’s for over 40 years. “We’ve been here since 1909.”
“Dad started the spuds up in 1968, and we’ve carried on. We’re fourth generation. My brother and I have been running the farm, and we’ve got a keen fifth generation I hope coming up in the next decade,” Perry notes.
Perry’s family farm grows mixed crops, which includes seed canola, grain, winter wheat, barley, hay, grass, beans and peas.
Perry adds there’s about 20 people that work at the farm year-round. “Harvest time would be our peak with about 50 people. Most of our seed potatoes come from northern Alberta. We plant them, usually in April. We have a growing season of about 120 days. We can start harvesting the new crop, as early as next week. Usually, our main harvest haul starts Aug. 20. We store potatoes year-round.”
“We just hauled out our last potatoes from last year’s crop this week. We start a fresh crop from there. We’re hauling potatoes, not every day, but on and off through the whole year,” Perry notes.
Frito Lay’s focus is almost all local, says Perry. “It’s a great long-term relationship to be a part of. We’ve been with them for 45 years now, ever since they took over the plant in Taber. We grow the potatoes here, they make them in Taber.”
And those potato chips are sold throughout Western Canada.
“If you’re eating a Lay’s, Miss Vickie’s or Ruffles potato chip in Western Canada, it’s a 20 per cent chance it’ll be our potato. There’s five growers for Frito Lay in southern Alberta. All those are the potatoes that supply the plant. Almost 100 per cent,” notes Perry.
Perry also loves the idea of supporting local, and the family farm is proud to be a part of the potato chip world that is “by nature local.” “We grow the potatoes here, we’re our own good customers.”
Even though Lay’s potato chips could be considered a large American brand, “they’re locally grown, they’re manufactured in Taber and shipped to the warehouse in Lethbridge.”
“All the jobs and everything that is going on is really local.”
The Perry family farm is a proud Canadian supplier for Canadian goods, and Perry says there’s a lot of potential for southern Alberta to continue to be the premiere food corridor along Highway 3. “We love being a part of it and hope to see the ag industry expand even further.”
“It’s a phenomenal place to produce crops for the world,” adds Perry.
