The 2015 chapter of Black Gold Farms is just about ready to be closed – only a few more loads to be shipped, and it will be history. The 2016 crop either ready to plant, is being planted, or is ready to be harvested. This is undoubtedly the most exciting time of the year for everyone at Black Gold Farms. This is where we get to start over, put last year behind us, to take what we’ve learned and move forward. It’s also the time of the year where we get tested – as in years prior – we’ve had that same anticipation, that same fire in our belly – the same conversation about what a great crop, plan, and team we have in place. And as we’ve learned from doing this for over 85 years, sometimes it’s a home run, and sometimes…. it’s not. When it’s not, that makes the next year even more important – not just for a business, but more importantly, for the people who work tirelessly to get that home-run, and sometimes who have to work diligently just to get on base. Like every year at this time, we know that harvest is right around the corner and that fire gets a little bigger.

The fire that we had last year at the beginning of May, with so much potential at our fingertips, is still there this year – and has grown in the meantime as we have planned, learned, and worked toward a new season. It has to be a fire that frankly, never goes out.

It has to be that same fire that Hallie Halverson had when he planted a few acres of potatoes in Forest River, ND for the first time.

It has to be that same fire that Jack Halverson had when he decided it was worth it to rebuild the potato wash plant after it burnt down. It has to be that same fire that Gregg Halverson had when he decided to take Black Gold Farms and make it a national player.

These guys all had a fire in their belly – and it never ever went out.

Every year tests that fire. A hail storm, a few weeks of torrential rain, a potato disease that wipes out acres, a loss of an employee, a lost customer, more days on the road than at home, spending massive amounts of time and energy on a project that doesn’t yield the result you wanted, and the list goes on about things that can put out that fire. However, people still need to eat. People still need to work. The crop needs to be planted, taken care of, harvested, sold and shipped. This needs to happen regardless of that fire.

85 years is a long time to keep that fire burning. Instead of working to just keep the fire going, we work on making that fire bigger. New varieties, new markets, new customers, new consumer trends, new partners, new marketing initiatives, new ways to help the community, new products, new ways to use data, new ideas, new people, new ways of thinking – this is what we have. This is the kindling that keeps that fire in all of our bellies. It’s just like the first acres of opportunity that lit Hallie’s fire – it’s still about what else is new and exciting. The fire in our belly exists because we know there’s more that we can do.

We’ll never stop fanning those flames. We’ll never stop tending to the fire. This is one, that we will not let die.