There’s no set definition for sustainability, although a number of organizations are working on certifiable definitions. In agriculture, it can mean reducing pesticides or eliminating leeching and runoff. In a fresh-cut plant, it can mean reducing waste in packaging or water use. Sustainability can also relate to the community a business is in – paying living wages or supporting local community groups. But at Keystone Potato Products and its owners, nearly every activity relates back to sustainable practices.
Sterman-Masser is a Pennsylvania potato-growing operation representing eight generations and more than 5,000 acres. The company, under the leadership of Keith Masser, grows primarily fresh-market potatoes and ships more than 5,000 loads annually. Sterman Masser is the largest of 60 shareholders of Keystone Potato Products, which recently completed a fresh-cut and processing facility that was built around sustainability.
On the farming side, the growers use integrated pest management (IPM) practices that reduce the amount of pesticides needed. The farms also use scouting and blight forecasting to ensure prevention measures are only applied as necessary, a practice that’s been in place since the early 1970s. Soil conservation measures on the farm include filter strips – about 12 percent of the acreage – and sod fields that receive wastewater. These long-term efforts earned the company the Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Potato Council a few years ago.
But it’s the processing facility that showcases the company’s commitment to sustainability. In 2000, co-op members began looking at building a dehydrated potato processing facility in Pennsylvania – which would be the first dehy plant on the East Coast. A local plant would provide a market for potatoes unsuitable for the fresh market, take chip stock potatoes out of the fresh market and provide a local, value-added product to customers on the East Coast, said Keith Masser, chief executive officer of Sterman Masser.
But most of the dehy facilities in the United States are in the Pacific Northwest, so the East Coast plant would have to find a competitive advantage. That edge was energy use, Masser said. Investing in technology and equipment to reduce energy needs would cut costs at the processing facility and would provide a marketable sustainability effort.
In order for the plant to be energy efficient, the right location had to be found. The first plan was to use natural gas, but a better option was settled on: methane from a landfill gas collection system, Masser said.
“That reduces cost ten to one over natural gas,” Masser said.
A site became available adjacent to a landfill and right off the freeway, and construction of the Keystone Potato Products plant started. The site offered another source of re-usable energy – a source of water. But that water was trapped in abandoned coal mines 600 feet below the surface, and the water was so contaminated that the federal government wanted it to stay there.
But Sterman Masser drilled down to the water and built a water treatment system in the plant. The water, heated by steam created with the methane gas from the landfill, is used for dehydrating, cooking, peeling, drying and washdown.
“We built the treatment system to clean the water to produce steam,” Masser said.
After the water is used in the plant, it undergoes an anaerobic treatment and is released to a nearby river in clean and safe condition.
In the production areas of the Keystone facility, the company uses products that are clean and sustainable, Masser said. No chemicals, pesticides or insecticides are used in the plant, the wash line uses ozone instead of chlorine and all of the machinery uses food-grade lubricants whether it comes into contact with food or not. Even the bags used for fresh potato packing are unbleached, and employees move pallets around using electric lifts. The company also has installed a system in its fleet of trucks that doesn’t run the diesel engines when the truck is idling, such as when the driver is sleeping or waiting for pickups or deliveries.
Sustainability doesn’t stop with the farming and processing. People are a large part of sustainable practices. Sterman Masser and Keystone employ about 150 people who are paid decent wages and are held to a written standard of conduct.
“We have a value code that we hire and fire on,” Masser said.
Masser chairs Pennsylvania’s Farmland Preservation Board, is on the Penn State Board of Trustees and has served on both the National Potato Council and National Potato Promotion Board. His wife, Helen, also served on the National Potato Promotion Board and now serves on the USDA Soil Conservation Board.
Practices have changed in the eight generations that the Massers have farmed, but some things have stayed the same. Being careful not to overuse insecticides and pesticides is something that the farm has done for many years, but consumers are just now demanding safe and clean products. The added investment in a sustainable factory to supply the East Coast with value-added products sets this potato processor apart in an industry that doesn’t seem to change.
