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Potato growers highlight new processor, need for storage and drainage fixes
Summary
North Dakota potato leaders told the joint agriculture committee that a new Belgian processor (Agristo) and other investments are driving plans to expand potato acreage and that growers need tax, storage and drainage policy support to scale production.
Brian Schulich and Lauren Easted, leaders with the North Dakota Potato Council, told a joint session of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees that the state’s frozen‑processing potato sector is expanding and that growers will need substantial on‑farm investment, storage and drainage improvements to meet demand.
Schulich said the council collects a modest checkoff and funnels funds to promotion and research; he described Agristo, a Belgium‑based processor that has chosen North Dakota for a processing site after extended engagement with growers and local partners. He said Simplot and Cavendish have also expanded infrastructure in the state (Simplot’s new high‑bay freezer and battery line in Grand Forks; Cavendish announced a $150 million expansion at Jamestown), and that estimated capital needs for farm storage and drainage improvements could total in the low hundreds of millions of dollars if acreage rises from roughly 75,000 to near 100,000.
Schulich urged legislative help on property‑tax treatment for commodity storage inside city limits and on drainage permitting and tile work, saying those policy changes would speed grower investments and make storage projects more feasible. He and Easted also noted that some contracted acreage fell after a large 2023 crop kept processors supplied into late 2024; growers face multi‑year crop and seed timing constraints when contracts are reduced.
No formal committee action was recorded. Potato leaders asked lawmakers to consider bills that address property‑tax treatment of agricultural storage (Senate Bill 2039 and related measures) and to support drainage and irrigation permitting reforms that would speed farm investments.
