Editors Note: This week’s blog was published in the Fall 2025 issue of The Produce & Pulse Journal. Read the full issue here: https://produceandpulsejournal.com/current-issue/
By Paul Adair, Staff Writer
From a small 2.5-acre field to a thriving 175-acre operation, Great North Seed Potatoes has grown its roots deep in Alberta soil. Discover how Klaas and Joyce Bakker turned hard work, innovation, and community spirit into a seed potato success story that’s feeding Canada from the ground up.
Growing up in the Netherlands, Klaas Bakker knew that his father had one day wanted to go to Canada. But, while life got in the way and that trip never happened, it inspired Bakker to make the journey himself in 2001, where he worked for three months on a seed potato farm in Stony Plain, Alberta. In 2002, after his wife (also from the Netherlands) graduated to become a registered nurse, they decided to visit Canada for a full year together – and loved the country so much, they never left.
As newcomers to Canada, they both started working on farms; Joyce on a dairy farm – and later as a nurse – and Klaas on a chicken and grain farm, before going on to work at a potato and grain operation.
In 2007, Joyce established a tissue culture laboratory that multiplied potato plants in a sterile environment to make plantlets, which were then planted in greenhouses to produce the first mini tubers.
In 2009, the Bakkers built their own greenhouse, followed by a second one a year later, and the mini tubers they produced were sold to nearby farms. However, in 2012, the Bakkers began growing their own seed potatoes on a small, 2.5-acre field. It was here that Joyce took care of the tissue culture laboratorium and greenhouses and Klaas took care of the field production while also working for different farms in the area. Then, after renting land for three years, the Bakkers were able to buy their own 80-acre property, where they continue to farm today.
“I’ve always had a love for agriculture but never in my wildest dreams did I think we would have our own seed potato farm,” says Bakker. “But with hard work, as well as help from the amazing connections we’ve built over the years, we now call our beautiful seed potato farm – Great North Seed Potatoes – home.”
Great North Seed Potatoes Ltd. is located near Calmar, Alberta, where the Bakkers currently farm 175 acres of seed potatoes. With its in-house culture laboratory and greenhouses, the farm is self-sufficient and produces all of its own seed potatoes. Joyce has approximately 40 varieties in the lab, with another 36 varieties in the greenhouses. In the field, Great North Seed Potatoes 30 varieties up to four generations, and the Bakkers also trade land with a local grain farmer, allowing the farm to be on a one-on-five-year rotation.
Since 2024, the Bakkers have also been working at growing potatoes in beds instead of hills and have established a 20-acre trial of beds on the farm.
“Growers in the United Kingdom have been planting potatoes this way for a long time and, after reading about it and talking to people over there, we thought it could be a solution that works for us,” says Bakker. “By planting in a bed instead of hills, we’re able to get to a more even sized profile of seed potatoes by planting more tubers per acre, utilize more land, and we are able to better retain the moisture in the soil. It has gone well and we’re now doing all our planting in beds; we’re very happy with the results so far.”
Growing a reputation
Alberta is well regarded across Canada and the United States as a reliable source of clean seed potatoes. This is a reputation that Great North Seed Potatoes strives to build upon, and the Bakkers do everything they can to ensure the highest food safety standards. From disinfecting buildings, equipment, and shipping boxes to collaborating with agronomists on crop nutrition, field work, and disease-prevention programs, Great North Seed Potatoes ensures every step supports a healthy harvest. Customers can trust that what they plant will grow into success – and that’s why they keep coming back year after year.
One of the things that Bakker appreciates most about being a farmer is knowing that his seed potatoes will be transformed into the potatoes that make fries, chips, and perogies (among a multitude of other products) found on shelves and in restaurants across Canada. But he’s also learned that agriculture requires patience, with his seed potatoes taking about 6.5 years to get from the farm’s laboratory to Canadians’ plates. A great deal of planning and foresight is required to meet the demands of his customers.
“I’ve always had a love for agriculture but never in my wildest dreams did I think we would have our own seed potato farm. But with hard work, as well as help from the amazing connections we’ve built over the years, we now call our beautiful seed potato farm – Great North Seed Potatoes – home.”
Klaas Bakker, Great North Seed Potatoes
Bakker acknowledges that, while farming comes with its challenges, it’s also a fulfilling way of life – one that provides a wonderful environment to raise a family.
He says, “Farming is an ever-evolving industry that allows us to work with our customers and other potato businesses and farming operations. I love talking to them about how their crop is doing, how they are handling their potatoes, or what they might be doing differently in the fields. I always learn something new and that’s what makes being a potato farmer interesting.”
Giving back
In addition to being stewards of the land and contributing to sustainable growing practices, the Bakkers also like to give back to the community. As part of this, Great North Seed Potatoes will donate potatoes to organizations such as Coyote Lake Lodge, where those with disabilities help work in the gardens and the produce harvested is partly donated to the local foodbank.
“We also love to help our school and community by donating potatoes for fundraisers,” says Bakker. “And Joyce really enjoys organizing field trips for the local school to come to our farm so we can teach them all about potatoes and what it means to be a farmer.”
Looking ahead, the Bakkers will continue working to keep Great North Seed Potatoes successful and growing by modernizing equipment and practices. Even further down the road, there is hope that one or more of the Bakker kids will take over the farm and contribute to Alberta’s agricultural sector for years to come.
