Each year, McCain Foods holds an appreciation banquet for its growers, where they recognize the top growers of their 150 across Canada. McCain Foods names ten top growers each year, and of the ten, one wins the title of Champion Grower, an award for the grower with the best rankings across all quality aspects of the product and how easy they were to work with.
This year’s Champion Grower is the Owen Potato Company of Carman. Mark Owen runs the operation with his dad, which started in 1996. Today, they grow 1,250 acres of potatoes annually, all under irrigation.
Owen said they don’t do anything that different from what other potato growers in the province are doing. He said that most process potato growers in Manitoba have comparable practices, and he credits a good year for the 2024 Champion Grower title.
The Owen Potato Company has been one of the ten nominees for the award a few times before, but they haven’t been the finalists until now. Owen said they had no idea they were getting the award this year, and the announcement was a total surprise.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” he said. “We were just happy to be a part of it. Potatoes…it’s just what we do. It’s a business that we enjoy, and we put a lot of time and effort into trying to pursue it further down the road.”
