b"changed our mentality and now we pick some of the best soils to grow organics on, Rempel explains.Organic potato production worked well for them with the farm now growing over 1,000 acres of organic potatoes annuallymaking them one of the largest organic potato farms in the country. They still grow conventional fresh potatoes as well.Martien Hakkers also came from a long line of potato growers. His family immigrated to Newtown Cross, P.E.I. in 1988 from Holland, establishing a potato farm there. As Martien eventually started to take over the farm from his father, Peter, he decided he wanted to do things differently.I was just tired of dealing with all the chemicals. And at the time we were using Thimet, which was an insecticide for wireworm. And you couldn't even get around without it, like the smell of it alone could kind of turn your stomach, he explains in a phone interview.In 2015, Martien started to switch the farm over to organic potato productionit took them five years to fully get out of conventional potato production. They now grow 400 acres of organic spuds. It's been really good. It took us a while to kind of get market share, but it's been really nice growth for the farm. And it's been nice to see some returns, Martien says.Kroeker Farms and Hakkers Organics are part of a growing industry across Canada. With 226 organic potato growers across Canada, according to statistics from the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA), those working in the industry see opportunity there. But organic production isnt easy, and regulations are holding back some areas of the industry.Wayne Rempel, CEO of Kroeker FarmsSPUDSMART.COM Winter 20237"