Pineland Farms chief updates Probus
PRESQUE ISLE — The monthly meeting of Probus was held at Northern Maine Community College’s Reed Commons building on April 21. President, Dana Crory called the meeting to order at 10 a.m.
Photo courtesy of Ginny Joles
RODNEY MCCRUM of Westfield, right, president and COO of Pineland Farms Potato Company in Mars Hill, was the guest speaker for the April meeting of Probus. Dana Crory is president of the Presque Isle-based service organization.
Program chairman, Ginny Joles, introduced the guest speaker Rodney McCrum, president and COO of Pineland Farms Potato Company in Mars Hill, who was recently named “Large Company Business Leader of the Year” by Mainebiz, a statewide business newspaper.
McCrum gave the history of the company from their start as Naturally Potatoes, when in 1995 their potatoes were introduced into the food services market. The Portland-based Libra Foundation made a timely investment that enabled Naturally Potatoes to retool up its production line in order to capitalize on the greater consumer demand for mashed potatoes. They were able to process 15,000 pounds of potatoes an hour, and by entering the high demand retail market, the company grew 40 per cent each year. The company could do 120 packages per minute of the various potato products.
The company’s motto has always been; “Fresh from the farm, minutes to the table.”
In 2005 the company was sold to Basic American Foods in California, the largest dehydrated potato company in the U.S. However, in 2010, they sold the company back to Pineland Farms. At this time, McCrum became president. Bill Haggett came on board and another private branch of natural beef herds was started in 2005. A farm in St. Agatha was purchased for additional potato acres needed as well as barley crops for the beef herds.
In 2013 Pineland Farms purchased the cheese company in New Gloucester where 40-pound cheese blocks are shipped to Mars Hill to be aged from six months to one year. These blocks are made into several artisan cheese brands with the Pineland label.
Pineland has also purchased potatoes from local farmers since 2010 at an increase of nearly 260 percent due to the growing demand for a wide variety of potato products.
All of the waste water there is filtered and used to irrigate their crops, and all byproducts are processed and used as livestock feed.
Pineland’s variety of merchandise can be seen and purchased in well known retail stores such as Sam’s Club, BJ’s, Hannaford stores, and Publix, to name a few. Restaurants such as Applebee’s, Bob Evans, Golden Corral, and Logan’s Roadhouse, are but a few examples of the widely served eateries.
All of Pineland’s products carry the BRC completely certified label of a highly produced product. As many as 50 trailer trucks each week deliver the Pineland Farms products.
Growing potatoes, transportation, operation, sales, and marketing, are all part of what McCrum calls his committed team of people who want to work for a company they take pride in and feel an important part. McCrum’s mission is to keep farms here in Maine and good jobs for Aroostook County people. The company provides a health insurance plan for all employees in addition to yearly awards, raises and bonuses.
The company has an impact beyond agriculture. They donated $50,000 to Aroostook Aspirations scholarship fund and $50,000 to support the World Cup Biathlon competition hosted by the Nordic Center in Presque Isle. Pineland Farms, he said, has been wonderful for their 200 employees and the morale of Aroostook County.
McCrum is married to Wendy Fields McCrum. Their daughter, Haley McCrum Kelley, is a big part of the marketing team at Pineland Farms. The company has invested $24 million in capital improvements over the past six years and now boasts 113,000 square feet of production space, operating around the clock. There are also plans for further expansion.
In other Probus business, Janet Snow gave a short reading on the pros and cons of our nation’s toll highways, and a little history of our turnpikes. The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
