Potatoes, peas, sugar beets, corn, alfalfa. Simplot growers and Simplot farms grow ’em all — and more. And that means they also harvest them all.
Harvest season lasts up to three months depending on the region, and in the Northern Hemisphere it ended a few weeks ago. Growers have now realized the fruits of this spring’s planting labor, bringing crops out of the ground and to market.
Each year, Simplot contracts with growers throughout the region for more than 100,000 acres of potatoes and vegetables to process in our North American food factories. We work in partnership with these growers, playing an active role to ensure good outcomes at harvest time. Simplot also grows thousands of acres of raw product on its own farms and sells crop nutrients to all comers — whether they grow for us or not.
Ensuring a Successful Harvest
There are so many components to a successful harvest — weather and water are key, of course, and are what a lot of people think of first. Inputs like fertilizer, as well as storage, science, and technology, are also critically important. Thankfully, at Simplot we benefit from a wealth of information that helps us create healthier foods, higher yields, and leverage more efficient growing techniques.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these inputs and how they each contribute unique benefits that ensure a successful harvest.
Water Stewardship
Access to water is critical to Simplot and to our growers who help us contribute to feeding our world. Water is as key to our business as potatoes or phosphorus.
We help our farmers—both on the supply side and as customers—use water wisely. To credibly talk with our farming partners about water, we need to manage it well ourselves. That’s why we seek to promote conservation at every facility, every day.
We are also working in partnership with governments, non-profits and other companies to help improve and protect water supplies.
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Water Stewardship at Simplot
Fertilizer
Fertilizer plays a vital role in helping Simplot accomplish its noble purpose to contribute to feeding our world. This crop input helps ensure a bountiful harvest- one that benefits growers and consumers.
Simplot’s complementary Business Groups also provide diversity and balance needed for our business sustainability. As an example, the fertilizer we manufacture and sell is a key input for ensuring productive harvests of the raw veggies, grains and fruits that become products we also sell — to feed the world.
One way that customers acquire this critical resource is through Simplot Grower Solutions. This division of Simplot’s business supports more than 38,000 farmer customers in the US and western Canada with crop inputs and trusted recommendations.
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Simplot Mining and Manufacturing
Simplot Grower Solutions
Sustainability
Simplot leads innovations in plant nutrition and continues to research new ways to sustain ecosystems and work with farmers and partners to help feed a growing global population.
We support the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Program that combines conservation with nutrient management to ensure the right fertilizers are applied the right way, at the right time, and in the right amounts to enhance growing while reducing waste and overuse. For example, at our Grandview Farm in Washington State, we apply 4R stewardship principles, and we’re over 15% more efficient in our fertilizer application than we were a decade ago while seeing improvements in yield and quality.
At Simplot, our drive to discovery always leads us to find a better way through innovation and powerful thinking. This allows us — in partnership with our farmers across the globe who plant and harvest literal tons of potatoes and vegetables — to provide billions of pounds of Simplot food products each year to feed our growing world.
