For Taylor Grant, a third-generation potato grower in Rupert, Idaho, the next big technology change on the farm is not a new machine but artificial intelligence. He told AgNavigator that he already uses AI tools for automated reports and text alerts, and to build dashboards and other tools without a major technology investment.
Grant is chief operations officer of Grant 4-D Farms, which farms roughly 30,000 irrigated acres, mostly of russet potatoes. It is one of four main family farms that sell to The Mart Group, a grower-owned food manufacturer that supplies fresh, frozen and processed potatoes to distributors, grocers and wholesalers.
The 2026 season was another difficult one. Years of rising potato production have outpaced demand and pushed prices down, while costs went the other way: diesel prices rose during the harvest, partly because of the Iran conflict, and fertilizer became more expensive. Grant said the farm cannot cut fertilizer too far without hurting crop quality and soil health.
Machinery is also getting dearer, he said, and that pressure pushes farms to grow bigger to spread the cost. That is part of why he sees cheap software built on AI, rather than more equipment, as the place where his operation can gain.
The weather added its own problems. An unusual spring made planting difficult in Idaho, and smoke from Canadian wildfires affected potato growth in some regions. Grant expects quality to vary from region to region, but said the potatoes going into storage on his farm are among the best he has seen in several years.
The interview is by AgNavigator's Ryan Daily.
Photo: Kirsten Strough, USDA / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: AgNavigator
Comments
(0)