Healthy Grown

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Healthy Grown Potato is an eco-brand that provides high-quality, sustainably grown, packaged, and shipped potatoes to consumers by leveraging integrated pest management (IPM) farming practices on large scale farms.^[1] A certification process is mandatory to market products as Healthy Grown. Through this program, growers implement on-farm conservation to improve biodiversity and restore native ecosystems on unfarmed parcels of land. All implemented practices are research-based by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and are found to be economically viable and ecologically sound and are supported by various non-governmental organizations. This whole-farm approach takes into consideration practices that consider water quality and soil erosion and has led to a reduced use of nutrients and pesticides. The goals of the Healthy Grown program as set forth in the approved Memorandum of Understanding include:^[2]

• Promotion of IPM practices
• Reduced utilization of risky pesticides
• Improvement of ecosystem biodiversity
• Articulated measurement systems of IPM
• Increased marketplace incentives

Healthy Grown was branded in 2001 by the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) after collaborations lead to the development of an eco-label for biointensive IPM (bioIPM) grown potatoes set in 2000.^[3] The eco-standard for potatoes is divided into three parts: 1) a bioIPM section, 2) a toxicity score, and 3) a natural community standard.^[4] In 2001, over 4000 acres became certified for the program, and about 5000 acres meet the certification standard and are labeled as Healthy Grown.^[5]