b"Selling Your Not So Perfect SpudsHow do you market your edible ugly or misshapen potatoes?BY: ALLY RODENWWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=UXHQAUOSNUUNOT EVERY POTATO you grow is going to be perfectly roundland and chemicals and labour growing food that then ends up and the required sale size. So what do we do with these ediblegetting thrown away or not eaten because it might have a funny ugly or misshapen spuds? shape to it.Panelists Brian Roe, Van Buren professor in the departmentShe then posed an important question: What can we do to of agricultural, environmental and development economics atmaybe gain back a little bit of that?Ohio State University and Shelly Harris, an organic farmer withWhile Pugly Potatoes only make up about two per cent of Fraserland Organics Inc. in Delta, B.C., joined us at the CanadianFraserland Organics recovery culls, as the ugly spuds are priced Spud Congress on March 22 to answer all our questions on uglyaround 70 per cent of the regular priced product, it has given spuds. people who may not be able to buy fresh produce because of the Fraserland Organics started Pugly Potatoes after coming to theprice point a way to purchase their products.realization that so many perfectly nutritious potatoes were being wasted because of harmless defects. Advice to Growers Wanting to Sell Ugly SpudsWhat makes a Pugly Potato? Any potato with minor skinThe incentive for many consumers links back to reducing food defects or an odd shape.waste.I would go past the cull bins, and there would be so manyThe big takeaway here was that there was this cluster of beautiful potatoes there. It was frustrating to see such a highconsumers who were willing to pay as much or even more when percentage of what we worked so hard to grow be discarded,they knew that produce could help reduce food waste when we Harris explains. told them that food waste was a problem nationally, explains Roe.Food waste is a prevalent issue worldwide. The average U.S.Roe and Shelly believe farmers markets might be the hot spot citizen wastes anywhere from US$1,000 to US$2,000 worth offor growers to sell misfit produce. food each year just by tossing it away, Roe says. We're wastingUgly potatoes might see more success, if they were situated 28SPUDSMART.COM Spring 2022"