Naturally Potatoes This summer, TATER ACT visited the company of Naturally Potatoes. It is located in Mars Hill, Maine, the heart of Aroostook County. The President is Rodney McCrum, a fourth generation farmer, and Francis Fitzpatrick is the vice president. The start of the business came about due to a small group of farmers led by Rodney and Francis who decided it was time to develop a line of fresh-cut potato products. The innovative idea started a great environmentally- friendly production facility. Both Rodney and Francis were concerned that Maine's potato industry was drawing to an end, with competition from Idaho and other large potato industries. Rodney says, "We looked at fresh-cut salads and carrots, and said, "Why can't we do that with potatoes?" They knew that they couldn't do such a large task alone so they hired a team to create a state of the state of the art facility, and are now producing 40 million pounds of potatoes products a year with a goal of 180 million pounds. TATER ACT was allowed to take a tour of the plant. The tour was led by Mr. Fitzpartick. For the tour, we had to don lab coats, hairnets, hardhats, and masks. The tour was amazing, and we learned valuable information on potato processing and how technology has changed the potato industry. Mr. Rodney McCrum was a wealth of information and gave us lots of useful resources. It was a great place to tour and the team enjoyed their time at Naturally Potatoes.
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