Puh-tay-tow, puh-tah-tow, when your FFA supervised agricultural experience revolves around farming, you’re in for a busy summer. Nothing could be more true for Caron Reiman, a Gothenburg (Nebraska) FFA Chapter member and high school freshman who kicked off his potato-farming business last year.
Reiman, the oldest of six, began growing potatoes with his dad in their huge family garden. What began as a way for the family to home-grow some veggies and potatoes quickly sprouted into a professional venture when Reiman reached out to a local farmer about planting a piece of his field.
“I’ve always had lots of fun helping my dad in the garden; we even have pictures of me cutting up potatoes and planting things when I was only 4 years old,” mused Reiman.
Never be afraid to ask the question. Reiman secured a corner of a field that wasn’t watered and ordered seed potatoes the next day. Reiman and his dad got to work with just half an acre rented, and finally, Reiman Spuds was born after countless hours of weeding, watering, setting up drip tape, and harvesting.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘Well, I already plant potatoes and give them to a lot of people. Let’s make this an SAE project,'” said Reiman.
Reiman’s dad isn’t just an ordinary gardening FFA dad. As an agronomist for Bayer Crop Science, Mark Reiman has been able to offer his son timely crop advice and connections.
“My father knows a lot about this area of the industry,” said Reiman. “He has a friend who worked up in Oregon for a big potato foundation, and he’ll also come down occasionally, look at my crops, and advise me. He knows a lot, a lot about potatoes.”
One thing is for sure: Reiman’s business is going places. This year, Reiman Spuds has expanded to a full acre. Because potatoes take up so many nutrients from the soil, everything had to be moved over.
Reiman has also expanded his potato varieties, now growing Yukon gold, red Pontiac, Kennebec potatoes, red gold potatoes, and a purple variety called Adirondack blue.
Like most growers, Reiman has a clear favorite (we won’t tell the potatoes).
“After growing them all, red Pontiacs are my favorite. They’re the easiest to grow. You can give those suckers almost no water, you don’t even have to weed them half of the time, and they will grow more potatoes than just about all of the other varieties.”
While Reiman’s dad is able to offer him current and progressive advice on growing his crops, Reiman still relies on some old-fashioned salesmanship, determination, and a really old planter. If you’re wanting to buy some of Reiman’s Spuds, there will be some at local grocery stores, or you can catch Reiman selling spuds out of the bed of his pickup.
4-H and FFA give this grower a leg up
While Reiman’s family is his biggest supporter, there’s no doubt that 4-H and FFA have helped to develop Reiman’s potential. Despite his love for growing potatoes, Reiman’s favorite project is public speaking.
“I love talking to people about agriculture,” Reiman said. “My favorite speech was about carbon credits and how carbon farming is becoming part of the future.”
It’s a love that started in 4-H, and when Reiman reached his junior high FFA years, he won the state public speaking contest with a speech on 3-D printed meat.
Now, in high school FFA, Reiman was elected as a junior high FFA member. As part of the largest FFA chapter in Nebraska, Reiman says that he’s fortunate to have two advisors who can offer him different perspectives and insights. But with 400 members, advisors really rely on their chapter’s leadership as well.
With so many different options available in high school for SAEs and competitions, Reiman has taken advantage of as many competitions as possible: Creed speaking, agronomy, CCM, and agriscience.
And while FFA and 4-H have been a big part of Reiman’s development and experiences, these organizations certainly haven’t limited his involvement in other activities. Reiman also plays football, was involved in his school’s spring play, ran track, competed in the science olympiad, and more.
So, how does one manage to balance farming, sports, FFA, and other ventures? The FFA chapter has kept students engaged through an SAE of the month project, and the school schedules FFA practices outside of sports practices. The advisors use officers as practice leaders to help manage everyone successfully.
“We try to practice at 7:30 a.m. and do that one-to-two times every week, says Reiman. “It’s only 30 minutes early to school, and you get enough practice in, and it’s meaningful practice time.”
The future of Reiman Spuds
With Reiman Spuds ever-expanding, the hope is that the company’s website will eventually become a one-stop-shop for all things spud. In the future, Reiman hopes that you’ll be able to order potatoes directly online, but in the meantime, Reiman is hard at work making that dream a reality and keeping followers apprised of all things potato on Reiman Spuds’ Facebook account and through his monthly newsletter.
»Related: FFA student turns passion into SAE project with mushrooms
Heidi Crnkovic, is the Associate Editor for AGDAILY. She is a New Mexico native with deep-seated roots in the Southwest and a passion for all things agriculture.
