Stacey Bajema is one of the Alberta potato industry’s most fierce advocates — even though she prefers to keep a low profile, always putting the growers she represents first.
As the Government Relations and Policy/Seed Director for Potato Growers of Alberta, Bajema is involved in many key initiatives for the province.
Here, she answers five tough questions about the current state of the industry and how growers can continue to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing landscape.
Every year will have challenges, of course. But overall, 2024 was good for Alberta potato growers. What is one key highlight you took away from the year?
In the face of many challenges, Alberta growers were still able to adapt and work together to make the most of the season.
That’s an important takeaway to remember as we look to an already difficult 2025. What do you think the industry’s biggest challenge is this year?
I would say the changing market pressures and the unpredictability around them. There are so many things hanging in the air that we’re not able to make on farm decisions or even know where we’re going as an industry. Everybody wants to adapt, but there are too many unknowns.
You have a lot of young growers entering the industry this year and it may not be starting out quite how they’d hoped. What advice would you offer them as they head into their first growing season?
The potato industry is affected by so many different factors that all work together to put us on the trajectory we need to go on. New growers should draw on the experience of others in the industry. Continuing communication with each other will help hold us together as an industry and hopefully help us to come out the other side of these tumultuous times, all the better.
Potato Growers of Alberta does a lot of great work on consumer education. How do these initiatives positively impact growers/the industry?
There are so many things that tie into food security of Canadians, and so many people don’t fully understand how their food is made or what happens on a farm. It’s so important for us to build and maintain relationships with the average consumer so that they can feel confident that their food is safe, and that we’re growing it in a way that will keep it affordable.
What are you most looking forward to in 2025?
There are all these challenges facing us but there’s something uplifting about what happens on the farm. A feeling of optimism and hope when you’ve planted a crop into the ground. Being a part of that… that’s what I look forward to and I think what the growers look forward to. There’s still so much passion for what they do and what this industry is.
