Interest in the Cariboo Potato has been reignited this month.
Last Thursday a Kamloops radio station published a story featuring the unique and outlawed potato grown by the Horse Lake Farm Co-Op. Since its publication Rob Diether, chairperson of the co-op, and other volunteers have received well over 40 calls and emails from across Canada expressing interest in the Cariboo Potato.
“People are really interested in the Cariboo Potato (right now). It always amazes me that people are so interested in the simple potato,” Diether said, noting he’s done several interviews with media outlets since the article’s release.
The spud at the heart of the story has an interesting tale of its own. Back in the 1950s, several different strains of potatoes were in development by the Potato Breeding Program of the Canada Department of Agriculture.
One of these strains, developed at the Potato Research Centre in New Brunswick, was sent out to an experimental farm in the B.C. Interior in 1963 where it did unusually well in the short and tough climate. Mike Van Adrichem, a horticulturist working for the Prince George experimental farm, christened it the Cariboo Potato.
The Cariboo Potato, Diether said, matures late and has a creamy colour with pink eyes that are resistant to both rot and bruising. Its hardiness makes it perfect for the Cariboo climate and over the years the farm co-op has grown several tons of the tuber.
“It’s a smooth-skinned potato with yellowish skin and very shallow pink eyes and they really do look lovely when we wash them up and sell them at the South Cariboo Farmers’ Market,” Diether said. “You can almost do anything with the Cariboo Potato. It makes a good baked potato, a good French fry potato and if you boil them they don’t fall apart. There’s quite a nice rich creamy texture to the flesh.
“Besides all that they’re a good keeper too, they keep very well in a root cellar. They’re always the last left in our cellar come spring that start to sprout.”
However, not long after the Cariboo Potato was adopted at 35 farms across B.C. a flaw was discovered. The potato had a tendency to cling to its leaves and vines when being mechanically harvested gumming up the machinery.
This led to it being de-certified in 1976, which meant that commercial growers could no longer grow them, at risk of being fined or losing their license. However, the potato was kept alive by small home farmers and gardeners.
“AG Canada controls the variety of seed potatoes available to commercial growers and potato seed producers across Canada,” Diether said. “Those people have to grow a variety of potato that is currently registered. (If they don’t) it can result in a pretty large fine through AG Canada, up to $10,000 though I don’t know if they’ve ever fined anybody that amount.”
In 1984 Diether said the then newly formed Horse Lake Farm Co-Op went looking for this so-called “outlaw potato.” Led by Jerry LeBourdais, they contacted longtime seed grower Tommy Wint from McLeese Lake who had helped grow the potatoes for AG Canada. Wint pointed them in the direction of John Reisser who lived near Hixon and was somehow able to get his hands on six Cariboo seed potatoes, four of which were given to the co-op.
Diether said the qualities that make the Cariboo Potato unsuitable for large-scale commercial agriculture are perfect for small gardens and farms. Diether can just pull up the vine after loosening up the soil and most of the potatoes come with it in one go, which is handy for hand harvesters. While they don’t grow as many as they used to, Diether said they’ve always grown a few rows of the Cariboo Potato every year since 1984.
“I don’t know who else would be growing it. As far as I know, we are pretty well the only folks keeping the Cariboo Potato going,” Diether said. “We grow about a half an acre all together, every year.”
Over the years Diether said the co-op has communicated with the Ministry of Agriculture about the potato. At one point he said they got a letter that ended with the statement “I suggest you select and grow varieties that can be legally grown in Canada.”
Despite the risk of a potential fine, Diether said the co-op has been undeterred and has kept growing the Cariboo Potato. He said the co-op has always believed it’s important to maintain a diverse selection of crops, rather than rely on a monoculture.
“We always believe we should be able to grow anything we want in our gardens and the state has no place in the backyard garden of the nation,” Diether said. “It’s always good to grow a range of different breeds. It’s the healthy thing to do so that if one should fail you can fall back on another.”
With this fresh wave of interest in the Cariboo Potato, Diether said he and the co-op intend to give out some seed potatoes to home growers who express interest in the spring. Anyone who’d like to get their hands on one can reach out to him at info@horselakefarmcoop.ca.
“It’s encouraging. I think it’s great people like to grow potatoes and are interested in the crop.”
