Baker Valley farmers plan local potato chip plant, city sells industrial lot

Baker City took the next step toward a local potato chip business Monday, voting 6-0 to sell Jess and Chelsea Blatchford a lot in Elkhorn View Industrial Park for $30,000.

Councilor Loran Joseph recused himself after discussing buying chips from the Blatchfords for Sweet Wife Baking, the Baker City business he co-owns with his wife, Jenny. The sale gives the Baker Valley farm family a place to build the next phase of a plan that would move more of their potato crop from the field into a branded food product.

Jess Blatchford said the idea of Baker County shoppers buying chips grown, sliced and fried in the valley feels “surreal.” His plan calls for a potato washing plant at Blatchford Farms, southwest of Haines at Pole Line and Brown roads, and a 12,000-square-foot chip-frying plant at the city-owned industrial site on the northwest corner of Baker City, west of 17th Street and south of Pocahontas Road.

Blatchford said he intends to plant about 20 acres of potatoes for chips in early May and harvest them in early fall. If the schedule holds, he hopes Elkhorn Ridge potato chips will be on shelves this winter. He said the first lineup could include three or four varieties, including salted and barbecue, with package sizes ranging from 2-ounce bags to party-size bags.

The chip business will sit alongside, not replace, the family’s larger potato operation. Blatchford said he still plans to plant about 620 acres of Russet Burbanks, the variety used for French fries and other frozen products. That split shows the business logic behind the new venture: keep the commodity acreage, but try to capture more value locally from a smaller share of the crop.

Blatchford also said he has already talked with local restaurants and businesses interested in carrying the chips, opening the door to a Baker County supply chain that could keep more processing dollars close to the farm. The move comes after Blatchford Farms was honored with the Baker County Chamber of Commerce’s Excellence in Agriculture award in March 2025, and after Baker Valley fields took frost damage in June 2023, a reminder of how weather can hit potato growers hard. In Oregon, where potatoes are one of the state’s major commodities and were named the official vegetable in 2023, the Blatchfords are betting that a familiar crop can support a new kind of local business.