WOODLAND, Maine — Farmer Tommy Atcheson, owner of Atcheson Farms in Woodland, is harvesting approximately 300 acres of gold rush, tablestock, russett, and burbank potatoes this year.
Atcheson sells the potatoes to McCain Foods in Easton, among other businesses, for processing.
“I’ve been farming since 1979 when I was a senior in high school,” says Atcheson. “I worked with my father Kenneth W. Atcheson until he got out of farming 12 years ago. Since then, I’ve taken over all of the farm.”
Atcheson Farms starts harvesting later than other growers in the area. As a result, there are not as many high school students available to help. This year, only three out of the 14 workers are high-schoolers.
Despite the long hours and tough work, Atcheson enjoys the occupation.
“It’s been a good life,” says Atcheson. “A tough life, too. It gets really tough when fuel costs are high. Every year is different. It’s feast or famine.
“Harvest is obviously a busy time. We dig and store the crop, and I have to maintain the crew. There’s always something to do on the farm. When we’re not harvesting, we’re spraying or irrigating. If we’re not doing that, then we’re doing maintenance on our equipment. We also need to market our crop,” he said.
According to Atcheson, marketing his crop is different every year.
“Some years you can have a lot of potatoes, but you can’t give them away,” said Atcheson. “Maine is just a small piece of the pie. A lot of the market is determined by larger farms out West.”
