What Do We Do With Unused Potatoes?

It’s time to face a hard truth: Not every potato can be worthy of being called a ProHealth potato.

Maybe they’re not shaped correctly, maybe they’re undergrown, maybe they’re overgrown. The point is, we sadly can’t use every potato. The same amount of time and effort goes into planting, growing, and harvesting unused potatoes as those which are used. How do we know which potatoes to use? And what happens to the ones that don’t get used by ProHealth? 

When we harvest potatoes, we look for the same things you look for when choosing potatoes at the store. If a potato has any green spots, it means that it has begun producing solamine, which is toxic to humans. If the potato has turned soft and is starting to grow “eyes” or spots where roots are growing, it means that they’ve already begun to mature. If any potatoes we grow feature any of these things, they’re immediately discarded.

Before we begin our Pure Wash System™ of triple-washing the harvested potatoes, we take another look at the spuds to make sure we’re washing the healthiest potatoes. That way, we ensure that potatoes not up to snuff never get close to your dinner table.

While it’s easy to discard potatoes we won’t use, we do our best to stay environmentally friendly and not throw away produce we could be repurposing elsewhere. So, what happens to these unused potatoes?

Most unused potatoes are given to local animal agriculturists and fed to dairy cows. Because of this, we call our unused potatoes “Cow Chow.” However, it’s not just the potatoes that make their way to the cows. At some of our farms, we also give the excess water we use to wash potatoes to local cows for drinking. Sounds like these cows are getting a four-course potato feast. That’s not the only way we reuse our produce. Other potatoes are composted and used to fertilize the soil where our spuds are planted.

Whether they’re used as “Cow Chow” to feed local dairy cows or composted to help the strength of our farm’s soil, our goal is to make sure no potato goes to waste.