From Field to Factory: Michigan Potatoes Power the Industry

Nov 11, 2025

At MSU, potatoes are more than a staple crop they’re the foundation of a thriving, innovative program that connects students, scientists, local growers, processors, and office personnel.

To this point, Michigan Potatoes and MSU recently sponsored a field trip and fact-finding mission to the Better Made Snacks potato chip factory for members of the PSM Main Office, the Potato and Sugar Beet Pathology Program, and the Potato Breeding and Genetics Program.

At the Better Made Snacks potato chip factory point of Initial intake: six to eight truckloads of Michigan-grown potatoes arrive daily to begin an amazing transformation from raw ingredient to packaged product a process that takes just 12-15 minutes.

Consistency is key to quality control: Phil Gusmano handles an extra large potato, and describes how needs for potatoes differ between large and small packages.

”Varietal development is so important we can’t overstate the value of the relationship between MSU and the industry," says Phil Gusmano, Vice President of Purchasing at Better Made Snack Foods, a Detroit-based company who sources 300,000 to 400,000 pounds of potatoes daily, mostly from Michigan farms. Gusmano credits MSU’s research for extending potato storage life Gusmano credits MSU’s research for extending potato storage life ten months; from October harvest through early March, to October harvest through July, a breakthrough that has improved both efficiency and product quality.

Source : msu.edu

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Six hundred Canadian farms grow grain for Warburton's under custom contract — and that partnership exists because of Canadian plant breeding. Now the man responsible for maintaining it is sounding the alarm.

Adam Dyck is the program manager for Warburton's Canada, a company that produces over two million loaves of bread a day for more than 20,000 retail locations across the UK. He's watched Canadian wheat deliver thirty years of yield gains and quality advancements that make it worth sourcing at scale — and shipping across the Atlantic. But he's also watching the investment conditions that produced those gains come under pressure. Dyck makes the case for a new funding mechanism that brings both public and private dollars into wheat breeding before Canada's competitive window starts to close.