HOLLANDALE – The Thursday-morning fire at Hollandale Marketing Association was the second punch this year for local potato growers.

Sunday, October 28, 2001

HOLLANDALE – The Thursday-morning fire at Hollandale Marketing Association was the second punch this year for local potato growers. In addition to the fire, they suffered from a devastating flood in the summer.

But, just as farmers managed to deal with the flooding difficulties by helping each other, the community is also showing its support to the HMA employees.

HMA manager Larry Forster said in the news conference Friday that the cooperative has begun cleanup of the facility and asked a potato washing plant in Maple Island to handle HMA’s share of the crop until the damaged plant is repaired. Forster estimated rebuilding would take about a month.

HMA member Larry Reynen owns the Maple Island facility, R & M Farms.

Since Thursday, Reynen has increased the rate of processing over five times to accommodate HMA customers. He plans to use his own potatoes to fill the HMA accounts, and then will apply the HMA production after the plant will reopen.

&uot;We will do our best to keep all our customers happy,&uot; Reynen said.

This has been a difficult year for the potato growers in the region. In June, heavy rains soaked just-planted potatoes in the region.

&uot;Though many farmers replanted potatoes, black-spots remained. The yields are about 40% less than average,&uot; Reynen said.

The potato has a favorable market price this year, according to Reynen. But he worries the disasters will force farmers out of business.

Gerald Edward, another HMA member farmer, lost 100 acres out of his 400-acre potato field to the flood. Heavy rains drowned potatoes and other crops in the area last four straight years.

&uot;It is something we cannot do anything to prevent,&uot; Edward said.

The co-op confirmed that its 30 employees would continue working in its onion processing plant, but the workload would be much less than before the fire.

Hollandale Mayor Ted Radke expressed his concern about the impact from the reduced wage.

&uot;There is going to be a trickle down effect because we are talking about 10 percent of the population. Even though they are going to work part-time, they’re going to spend less because they have to tighten up their belts a little bit, too.

Radke said the community is willing to help the employees. Right after the fire, individuals and businesses brought food and drinks for firefighters. The Salvation Army has already proposed the same level of assistance to HMA employees as it did to Farmland workers, he said.

&uot;This community pulls together its best when we are under pressure,&uot; Radke said.

Representative Dan Dorman (R-Albert Lea) and Senator Grace Schwab (R-Albert Lea) attended the news conference and mentioned that they are going to assess the employees’ needs and seek any state assistance that may be available.