Iott Seed Farms

Don has been working on the farm seasonally for almost 30 years after putting in 30 years at the Oldsmobile plant in Lansing. (He's also been a lover of Costco hot dogs for a long time!) The potatoes couldn't make it from the storage bins to the grading lines on the north and south ends of our shipping and storage facility without him. It takes a lot of trips with a fork truck with the scoop on the front to empty a building that holds about 25 million pounds of potatoes. Thanks for all you do, Don!

Dennis Iott of Iott Seed Farms testified before the Michigan House Agriculture Committee last week during Potato Day at the Capitol and brought up the two biggest challenges farmers in Michigan face today: ? Unreasonable water usage decisions that do not rely on facts. (Farmers need water to grow food and are irrigating more efficiently than ever.) ? Solar fields that make good farmland unavailable for agriculture and drive up the rental and purchase cost of other farmland. (Farmers need access to land — either owned or rented — to grow food to feed the world.) State legislators from both parties are always welcome to schedule a visit to Iott Seed Farms. We would love to show you around and explain our efforts to use the resources available to us responsibly and efficiently.

This is our Harriston Industries Clod Hopper in action in our shipping and storage facility on M-66 south of Kalkaska. We run about 1,500 pounds of potatoes per minute through this piece of equipment while we load trucks with seed potatoes to be shipped to other farms. The potatoes ride up the elevator to a star table, which knocks the dirt and small rocks out. The potatoes then bounce off two steel drums and onto another conveyor. The rocks and dirt chunks don't bounce and instead fall into another conveyor and into a crate.

Dennis Iott of Iott Seed Farms attended Potato Day at the Capitol in Lansing on Thursday. We believe it is important to advocate for the needs that farmers across Michigan have and to meet with decision makers in state government. Thanks to all the legislators and their staff members who took a bit of time to learn more about the Michigan potato industry and to Kelly Turner, Ed.D, CAE and the team at Michigan Potatoes for all they do. Check out this news report about the event from WILX-TV and you will see a shot of North River Vodka, which is distilled from potatoes grown right here on our farm. MORE: https://lnkd.in/eUzKAMuR

There are a lot of good people growing a lot of potatoes in this great state of ours.

The snow on the ground shows that it isn't quite potato planting season yet, but that doesn't mean we're not getting ready for it. We just had new guidance systems installed in our planter and the tractor that we will use to pull the planter for the first time this spring. We purchased the tractor last year and the guidance system in it was not compatible with the planter, so we updated the systems in both of them to make them more modern, effective and user friendly. Having guidance systems in the tractor and on the planter help us maximize efficiency when it comes to planting. If we had even two or three extra inches between each pass down the field with the planter it would add up over the course of planting season. That would make for an inefficient use of the land we farm but also the inefficient use of water and fertilizer on that land throughout the growing season. Being good caretakers of our resources is important to us. Auto steer and guidance systems might make it easier to operate a tractor, but that's not why they exist.

Iott Seed Farms digs, measures and weighs potato samples throughout the growing season, which allows us to know, field by field, precisely how much water and fertilizer our potato plants need to reach full maturation. That prevents us from using more water or fertilizer than is necessary. Iott Seed Farms takes its role as a steward of the land and other resources very seriously. For more on how we farm responsibly, please visit iottseed.com/how.

Kudos to Spudman Magazine for naming Todd Feenstra of Midwest Water Stewards as one of its 2025 impact Award winners. Todd does a great job of working with and advocating for farmers who are working to ensure they are being good stewards of the water supply. Please give the Midwest Water Stewards LinkedIn page a follow to keep up with the latest on how Michigan farmers are working to protect our water supply. If you own or operate a farm in Michigan or northern Indiana, we encourage you to reach out to Todd to see how you can monitor water usage on your farm.

Last fall, we harvested and put into storage 27 million pounds of potatoes. Last week, we started shipping those potatoes from our shipping and storage facility on M-66 to other potato farms. Our first few loads went to Lennard Ag Company and Walther Farms. We will continue to ship potatoes until May. Our potatoes are used as seed potatoes for other farms, who will grow potatoes to be used to make potato chips starting this fall.

Does it look like Tom is taking selfies while Deryk and Dan are working hard? That was the case … but just for a few seconds. Trust us, Tom did quickly put his phone down and pick his shovel back up. Tom, Deryk, Dan and Randy took some time out of their schedule on the farm to help a neighbor/Iott family member get their roof cleared of snow.