02/25/2026
If there’s one crop PEI is known for, it’s 🥔.
Easy — right? Stick a spud in the ground in spring and you’ll have more by fall. But at scale, potatoes are anything but simple.
Potatoes are susceptible to disease. Late blight — think Irish potato famine — can still wipe out a crop in a wet year. Fungicides and pest controls help manage that pressure. But farming can feel like a race to keep up with nature.
Potatoes aren’t grown from true seed. They’re planted from “seed potatoes” — small tubers grown specifically for replanting. They’re clones, so disease pressure doesn’t just affect one harvest. A bad year can impact next year’s planting stock too. And unlike tomato seeds, seed potatoes can’t sit on a shelf for years — think how quickly kitchen potatoes sprout. Crop failure has ripple effects.
So how do organic farmers manage that risk?
First: rotation — not planting potatoes in the same field year after year, ideally four years or more. Many pests and diseases live in the soil. Colorado potato beetles overwinter there. Move the crop, and you make it harder for them to find food.
Second: soil health — not just NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), but building living soil. Organic farmers use cover crops, green manures (crops turned back into the soil to add organic matter and nutrients), compost, manure, mineral amendments and more. Healthy soil supports stronger plants and improves water retention.
Third: variety. We all know Yukon Gold and Russet, but there are many more. Some are bred for high yield and processing. Others for disease tolerance. Organic growers often choose varieties that reduce risk — even if that means smaller harvests.
Organic farming doesn’t chase maximum yield alone. It leans toward managing risk and building soil over time — in longer rotations, cover crops instead of bare fields, hedgerows breaking up large blocks, and soil that’s nurtured rather than pushed hard.
On a small Island where potatoes shape our landscape and economy, those choices add up. And so do ours. Hakkers Organics Inc.
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