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Spudmobile takes potato farming on the road

The Wisconsin Spudmobile offers consumers a field to fork experience with its high-tech mobile education center as it travels the Midwest.

Jim Zdroik, coordinator of the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association’s Spudmobile, tells Brownfield they want consumers to know how food is produced.  “We had 90 some odd plus events for the Spudmobile last year and I’m expecting well into the 100s for this year because we’ve included more.”

The Spudmobile’s education center includes eight different stages of potato production, videos and interactive, hands-on activities. Zdroik says schools like the ease of creating a virtual field trip that can set up in the parking lot.  “Most everything now is directed through and by technology, from our planting and guidance systems, spacing of the crop, all the way down to irrigation and finally the digging part of it.”  He says the Spudmobile also educates visitors about potato production misconceptions, including water use.

Wisconsin is the third largest producer of potatoes in the nation.  It ranks first in green bean and pea production, third in sweet corn, and produces 30-percent of the nation’s carrots.

AUDIO: Interview with Jim Zdroik