Mountainside, NJ. – Specialty Potato Alliance (SPA) announced here today the addition of a new grower to the alliance. White Rock Specialties, a new entity combining two of the San Luis Valley’s premier growers and packers, will join the alliance when their new facility opens in early November.
White Rock Specialties is a combination of Rockey Farms and White Mountain Farms. Sheldon Rockey, owner of Rockey Farms and founding member of SPA will remain a certified seed operation that will supply SPA growers with the proprietary seed for the Red Rebel, Rockey Rose, and Merlot, These varieties are exclusively marketed by SPA. Paul New, owner of White Mountain will merge his Organic operation into the new entity.
Both operations will utilize the farming practices developed by Brendon Rockey, co-owner of Rockey Farms. These heirloom practices cut water use by 50%, reduce or eliminate the use of fertilizers, retain more carbon in the soil and provide nutrient dense product. Rockey Farms received national recognition for its soil conservation methods this year and is promoting this earth saving form of farming throughout the country.
“The new will facility has many advantages” notes Sheldon Rockey. “It will cut our packing time in half and will incorporate two lines so we can run organic and sustainable at the same time. We will also be using an optical sizer and polisher along with a double wash and ozone treatments. Once we are completely up and running, we hope to be a one stop shop for potato buyers.” White Rock Specialties will run Fingerling, Russet, Red, White, Yellow and Purple potatoes for retail, foodservice and processing.”
“We are very excited about the new facility,” mentioned Mr. New. ”Now we can keep up with demand and produce a cleaner product. “We have been growing for SPA for the past 5 years so this is really a natural extension of what we have been doing. This is a great team and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Specialty Potato Alliance is a dedicated group of growers and shippers committed to providing the healthiest and best tasting specialty potatoes available. Their Family of products, proprietary varieties and year round availability has made them trend setters in the potato category. For more information about SPA please contact Richard or Dale at the phone numbers above.
Source: Specialty Potato Alliance