Harvesting Potatoes from Wyoming Fields to Feed Wyoming Families

For the past two years, the University of Wyoming’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center (SAREC), in conjunction with the Cent$ible Nutrition Program, part of Wyoming’s Nutrition Action Coalition, has donated much of the crop from their potato research program at the university’s farm outside of Lingle to Food Bank of Wyoming.

In September 2022, volunteers helped harvest and pack nearly 11,000 pounds of potatoes into 10-pound bags which were then distributed to our 150+ Hunger Relief Partners across the state to give to our neighbors experiencing hunger.

Steve Paisley, the director of SAREC, says the potato research program at the university’s farm outside of Lingle has grown and that it’s been harvesting potatoes for years.

“What it developed into is we’ve done field days with local school kids,” Paisely says, “and we talk about what goes on here, the importance of research and those types of things. Then we finish our tour by giving the kids a chance to dig potatoes on their own.”