b'CASTAWAYS CASTAWAYS Undersized russets experiencing new life with marketing ploy that highlights food waste.BY: TREVOR BACQUEEVERYONE KNOWS THE durability, quality, and size of the Russet Burbank. Its for that reason they are the preferred potato of choice for most processors. Ostensibly, everything is measured against the Burbank and, if processor preferences are any indication, all fall short. One particular potato, the small russet, has been much maligned for its diminutive size, but no longer. Earth Fresh Farms (EFF), based in Burlington, Ont., has found a home for the small potatoes after its president Tom Hughes became fed up with the mounting food waste on perfectly good potatoes.Weve known for many years that small russet potatoes dont have a home, he explains. Most growers in most growing areas in North America just leave those potatoes in the field when they harvest.Above: Earth Fresh Farms President Tom HughesThats just a huge waste of nutritionalLeft: The bag that Earth Fresh Farms potato brand value. If youre a grower in certainCastaways is sold in in Canada.PHOTO: EARTH FRESH FARMSprovinces, you probably dont harvest those potatoes or you throw them away orwaste rate of all food produced. The labelcheap and inexpensive to people, you feed them to cattle. In a lot of cases, theyon the package is full of text containingreally start to care, he says. Especially end up in a cull pile, its just food waste. food waste factoids designed to educatenow with inflation being considerable A primary use for farmers may be tothe consumer and create a sense ofin the food sector, were always trying to ship them to a dehydration plant or feedconverging ethics between both thecome up with new products that meet the them to cattle. If theres not a plant or cattleconsumer and EFF. demands of our customer base.nearby, they are invariably discarded. The retail response has been veryCurrently sold in five-pound bags It was due to that, that during COVID- positive according to Hughes, who nowbetween $1.49 and $2.99, the bags are 19, Hughes began to look at the smallhas agreements in place with more thannaturally priced lower for consumers. In russet. The possibilities of what he could90 Sobeys stores in Canada and 1,100- addition, the bags themselves are fully do with the forgotten small russet madeplus Food Lion locations in the U.S. Thecompostableincluding compostable him dream up a new food line aptlyteam at EFF is also in negotiations talksink, glue, the plastic vent view, now dubbed Castaways.to further its line of small russets underreplaced by small holes, and nylon to seal With sustainability becoming morethe name Great Spud Rescue with anthe bagsand its in direct response to of a buzzword, the retailers were moreinternational food retailer which wouldshifting consumer preferences. interested in trying to bring products tosee demand more than triple.Its pretty new to the marketplace, consumers with sustainability in mindThis fall will mark the first time theymostly in Canada, he says. The and reducing food waste, he says. have enough supply for all locations andcompostable bag is something thats very According to the USDA, between 30Hughes is eager to provide healthy, qualityexciting to consumers in the U.S. as well.to 40 per cent of all food is wasted infood during a time when food security isHughes is glad that, above all, more the U.S. The number in Canada is evenbecoming a question of greater magnitude. companies are paying attention to food higher, estimated to be a 58 per centBeing in the food business, providingwaste and sustainability. SPUDSMART.COM Summer 202229'