I Love Local with Downey Potato Farms – and Bradfordlicious

February 12, 2016 · 0 Comments

Just 10 minutes north of Shelburne, you will find local potato farmer Trevor Downey, a fourth generation farmer who is always on the search to bring the most delicious spud to your tables.

Downey Potato Farm has been a staple of the landscape since 1924.

Today, their produce is most prominently found in Loblaw stores, while they also sell to many other companies, including local supermarkets Foodland and No Frills in Shelburne.

“It has been his challenge to take this commodity and put as much creativity behind it, exploring the different varieties that are available around the world and trying to see if we can grow them locally,” Mr. Downey tells us.

A firm believer in supplying locally and, by that, Downey clarified, with potatoes, that means province-wide.

“Currently, 90 per cent of our potatoes are sold in Ontario and really there is no need to import any potatoes into this province as we are able to sustain supply with what is grown here,” he says.

With, that he showed us a new program that just went on line this week which pairs eating establishments directly with local growers of food, allowing establishments to source the fresh items they require closer to home.

Downey Potato Farm currently grows 22 varieties of GMO Free potatoes and just recently introduced the Masquerade Potato, sold exclusively at Lablaw stores this past November.

“This showey two-coloured potato is perfect for baking and has a creamy and buttery sweet taste,” says Mr. Downey.

In search of new specialty potatoes, Mr. Downey went to Lima, Peru in November 2013, which happens to also be headquarters of the International Potato Centre.

There, he made some key contacts with leaders of the gene bank that stores 20,000 different varieties of potatoes. From there, he travelled to Cusco to explore the origins of the potato with the local farmers who proudly showed their potatoes grown at 9,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level.

As it goes, this new speciality potato can be found packaged in three pound bags for $3.99.

As one of the province’s premier potato growing, packaging and distributing companies, Mr. Downey is always happy to support local causes, such as Shelburne Canada Day Festivities, and recently was approached by BWG Events Group to provide select Bradford restaurants with locally grown potatoes for the 3rd Annual Bradfordlicious event.

Each participating restaurant received 50-100 pounds of donated potatoes and is challenged with creating a signature Potato Soup.

This event features twelve restaurants offering a complete three course meal for just $20 and aims to raise funds for community not-for-profit projects, partnering with PC Children’s Charity to support school breakfast programs.

Each restaurant has earmarked $1 from every Bradfordlicious meal purchased for donation to PC Children’s Charity.

Bradfordlicious runs from February 5 to February 28. Try any one of the establishments signature soup featuring locally grown Downey Potatoes that were donated.

For more information on this event visit their website at www.bradfordlicious.com.

By Michelle Janzen