I know that rice and pasta have achieved this. They've even gone further with the value-adding with vegetables, spices and flavourings to market complete meals that people want to buy. What is embarrassing for the potato growers in our area is that another potato growing area, which is much further from the major markets than we are, has succeeded in marketing their potatoes more effectively in the same marketplace. The potato crops in the two regions come from the same certified seed sources and the farming practices are apparently identical. From my observations, it would appear that the growers in the area further from the market, realised they had a problem with marketing potatoes, so they were pro-active in doing something to investigate the needs of their consumers.
Consumers nowadays are in a hurry.
They want something quick and easy. Something in a packet from the shop that's easily opened, dropped into boiling water or a microwave oven and is ready to be eaten in ten minutes, with no fuss or hassle. The Red Soil Potato Farmers have done their marketing homework and have tried to meet consumer needs. They set out some time ago to improve the quality, reliability and consistency of a good product, to produce something that consumers and the supermarkets wanted and were willing to pay for. Red soil has become an unofficial brand to tell their potatoes apart.