Spudlove

Bets its Chips on Sustainability

The first thing a potato chip fanatic (ahem … no names) notices about SpudLove potato chips is that they are especially thick and extraordinarily crunchy. On the important matter of potato chips, it really is all about the texture: Wimpy, crumbly chips are not worthy! Add to their remarkable crunch a handful of punched up flavors, and you might have the chip “ideal.”

But it’s the farming story behind the crunch and flavor bursts that makes SpudLove chips truly noteworthy. Like with all land-based foods, the true flavor, nutritional and societal value of these chips begins in a field.

In 1998, a multigenerational family of farmers purchased 100,000 acres in northeastern Oregon along the Columbia River near the town of Boardman. On this land, which the family named Threemile Canyon Farms, they would raise dairy cattle and eventually grow potatoes—using organic methods. This is especially notable because there were, and still are, very few large-scale organic potato farmers in the U.S. Organic potato farming is difficult; it is more time-consuming, with lower yield, especially at first when a farmer is transitioning away from the use of pesticides and herbicides.

But the owners of Threemile Canyon Farms were not to be deterred. In an area where most commercial agriculture was “conventional”—aka, dependent on chemical input—the family farmers of Threemile were determined to produce organic and non-GMO food on a large scale, and to protect the land and the nearby Columbia River. This commitment to the environment in which they were farming, starting back in 1998, was well ahead of its time. Today, “regenerative agriculture” is a more common part of the agricultural lexicon, but it was not back then.

“Threemile Canyon Farms has pursued the most thoughtful farming practices, developing healthy soil using crop rotation, cover crops and natural fertilizers,” says Shaila Garde-Lester, the chief marketing officer of SpudLove, a longtime veteran of the food industry and Marin resident. The farm, according to Garde-Lester, has demonstrated that grazing and milking dairy cows, in combination with growing crops, can enable farmers to successfully create a regenerative closed-loop system, resulting in little to no waste.

Small-scale organic farmers have most often led the way in successfully integrating regenerative practices, but because organic farming still represents less than 1% of commercial agriculture nationwide, it is critical that large-scale commercial farms such as Threemile Canyon Farms also adopt practices that create replicable models for transition to regenerative ag.

In addition to pursuing sustainable farming practices, Threemile Canyon Farms has embraced ecosystem stewardship, working in partnership with the nationally recognized conservation leader The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Twenty years ago, soon after purchasing the farm, the family entered into a contract with TNC, committing 23 acres of their land for habitat restoration and protection of the Columbia River. According to Justin Jones, regional stewardship manager for TNC in Enterprise, Oregon, the family owners voluntarily entered into the commitment, and have consistently worked in partnership with TNC to establish what is now known as the Boardman Conservation Area, which TNC manages. In a TNC report, the nonprofit organization describes the goal of the partnership as to “protect habitat for the Washington ground squirrel, ferruginous hawk, loggerhead shrike and sage sparrow on private lands owned by Threemile Canyon Farms … Restoring and preventing further degradation of shrub-steppe and grasslands is identified as a key strategy in the Oregon Conservation Strategy.”