How JP Farms first Sweet Potatoe Crop may be for Potatoe chips and Beer in 2016

JP (Jamaica Producers) has been diversifying into growing other crops other than bananas, which they've been doing for the past 85 years. Their St. Mary Banana chips have made them famous.

But in order to grow as a company, they needed to expand into other fruits and vegetables.

So it with that in mind that they've recently expanded into sweet potatoes, which they plan to bring to market as Potatoe chips as reported in the article “JP Farms Launches Into Sweet Potato Market With First Harvest Of New Variety”, Published Monday November 9, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Their 20 acre sweet potato farm was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, through its Bodles Research Facility, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, and Newport Fersan. They've coordinated with JP to introduce the commercial production of sweet potatoes that are nutrient rich with a dash of sugar.

Good to not there I love Sweet potatoes, being one my all time favourite foods to buy in downtown Market aside from Cabbage and Carrots to make Baked Cheese Irish Potato Crisps as described in my blog article entitled “How to make Baked Cheese Irish Potato Crisps – Healthy Chocolate Diversion from Working as a Ghostwriter From Swallowfield to Milk River”.

This is all a part of their expansion of their St. Mary Farm with the following crops:

1.      Cassava

2.      Coconuts

3.      Coconuts

4.      Pineapples

Now with Sweet potatoes growing on some 20 acres of land, JP Farms, aka JP Tropical Foods situated in Agualta Vale, St Mary, has seen it fit to earmark 20 acres of land for a sweet potatoes farm, with an eye on future expansion, to quote a Press Release: “The first phase of the project will be 20 acres, and the company is targeting an additional 80 acres for further expansion in line with market demand”.

So does this mean Jamaica will start making potatoe chips and other potato derived products? Or will this be another branded product like JP Pineapple, JP Sweet Cassava, JP Fresh Coconuts, and the JP Bananas?

JP Farms harvests first Sweet Potatoe Crop – How Potatoe chip and Potatoe Beer may be coming in 2016

JP Farms pioneered pineapple and cassava varieties suited for snack-food production. The new sweet potato variety under JP Tropical brand will be sold as a dried ready-to-cook product to Jamaicans both locally and in the diaspora to make potatoe pudding.

To quote General Manager of JP Farms, Dr Damian Graham, JP Tropical brand sweet potatoes will be coming to a supermarket near you: “Consumers will come to know and love this JP Sweet Potato from the baptism in the rich soil of JP Farms. We have brought to Jamaica the JP Pineapple, JP Sweet Cassava, JP Fresh Coconuts, and the JP Bananas. We will continue to expand the varieties of JP Sweet Potatoes to include other varieties”.

JP has invested extensively in mechanization and state-of-the-art enterprise resource planning farming software. This in a bid to improve forecasting, planning, and controls in its farming as they practice crop diversification and increase their acres under cultivation operations.

They are also interested in the use of their state-of-the-art farm to train farmers and provide production system support to other farmers and learning institutions. When their latest ventures, most likely called JP Sweet potatoes is ready to harvest, they'll be available via all domestic fresh market channels as follows:

1.      Hospitality

2.      Industrial Food Processors

3.      Retail

Proper protocols will be in place to ensure their latest product meets quality protocols for fresh produce. To quote General Manager of JP Farms, this means more choices for Jamaican consumers: “I am pleased that JP Farms continues to be absolutely committed to being the leader in innovation in Jamaican agriculture and to providing Jamaican consumers with healthy, attractive, and competitively priced food options”.

Still, aside from selling sliced sweet potatoes in vacuum sealed bags for making potatoe pudding easier this Christmas, they might make other products for the international market a well, such as potatoe chips and possibly Potatoe-based flour or even a potatoe based pancake mix.

Even potatoe wine and beer as ethanol can be made from potatoes as noted in my blog article entitled “Christiana Potato Growers Co-operative Association plans to Grow Genetically Modified Potatoes for Ethanol” would be nice additions to the JP lineup.

I await the arrival of JP Sweet Potatoe by late Christmas 2015 and early 2016!