HONORING OUR VETERANS – MATHEW FOTH
 | Author:
Matt Nelson
MT43 News Correspondent |
HONORING OUR VETERANS – MATHEW FOTH
Matt Nelson
Mathew Foth is a veteran of the U.S. Army. He joined the army right after high school. He served on active duty as a certified firefighter for three years, and two more years doing weekend duty in the Montana Army National Guard (MTARNG), stationed with the 1049th. He had wanted to become a firefighter while a young boy.
Mathew began his Basic Training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, and from there went to Goodfellow Air Force Base at San Angelo, Texas for Advanced Infantry Training. His Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) was 51 Mike - a Firefighter. He loved it and was an honor graduate of his class at the fire academy. Mathew excelled in his job as a firefighter, and just before his active-duty enlistment was up, he received the Army Commendation Medal, which is quite an honor. It reads:
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY HAS AWARDED
THE ARMY COMMENDATION MEDAL
TO SPECIALIST MATHEW D. FOTH 1049TH ENGINEER PLATOON (FETG)
FOR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF DUTY WHILE ASSIGNED TO THE 1049TH ENGINEER PLATOON (FETG). SPECIALIST FOTH DISPLAYED ENTHUSIASM, DEDICATION, AND SOUND JUDGEMENT IN ALL ASPECTS OF HIS ASSIGNMENT. HIS SERVICE EXEMPLIFIES THE HIGHEST TRADITIONS OF THE MILITARY SERVICE, REFLECTING GREAT CREDIT UPON HIMSELF, HIS UNIT, AND THE MONTANA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD.
10 JUNE 1994 – 9 JUNE 1997
GIVEN UNDER MY HAND IN THE CITY OF WASHINGTON
THIS 16TH DAY OF MAY 1997
(SIGNED)
MARK D. AHNER PERMANENT ORDER 136-001
COL, AR, MTARNG 95TH TROOP COMMAND
COMMANDING
Mathew’s family moved to Montana from Iowa while he was about 12, and at the age of 14 he started working with Joe and Bill Spinner, who owned potato farms a few miles south of Toston. Mathew, his wife Sarah, and his brother Mitch are now the owners of Foth Farms where certified seed potatoes are grown. They took it over about five years ago from the Skinner brothers, who had had it for 50 years. Instead of reenlisting in the Army, he decided that he wanted to become a potato farmer himself. On October 4th Governor Greg Gianforte visited Foth Farms on his 56-county agriculture tour of Montana.
Mathew said, “Agriculture has always been in my family. My great-grandparents, grandparents, and my parents tried farming briefly. Now it’s like I am the first generation in farming. Not having the opportunity of a dad who farmed or a grandpa who had something established was a grind to get to the point where we were even turning a positive balance sheet. It takes a while to get the momentum going.”
Initially, Mathew started off buying 3 acres and now has expanded it to over 900 acres, growing mostly seed potatoes. He has six full-time employees, and during the seeding and harvest times employs 25 to 30 seasonal workers. The seeding rate is about 3,000 pounds per acre, and the yield is almost 40,000 pounds per acre. Total production this year was 40 million pounds of potatoes on the 900 acres. The average seed size is 2 ounces.
What is the difference between certified seed potatoes and regular potatoes?
The Foth Farm does certified seeds, there is nothing different in the way you grow them or eat them. They eat them just like you do your garden potatoes. They just finished all of the necessary inspections, paperwork, registrations, and getting signed up for the certification process of limited generations. Inspections include things like they are disease free and are true to variety type.
“The seed potatoes are sold to Washington State, Idaho, and North Dakota, and they have sold as far as Maine. Mostly they are sold in the Columbia basin in Washington. Being seed potatoes, the customers out in Washington and Idaho don’t want them until two weeks before they plant. Buyers call, and we will start trucking. We have expanded the business into a delivery service as well. I have twelve tractor-trailers that we will start delivering the potatoes in February. It is six days a week in February, March, and April hauling spuds. The minute we are done with that it is planting again. We just have one crop a year, but we are busy with it. It seems like we are always busy with it. Idaho gets a lot of their early generation seeds from Montana.
“I love it. I can’t imagine what else I would be doing with my life if I wasn’t growing potatoes. It’s pretty intense. We take Sundays off but for nine months out of the year, it is six days a week full throttle. In the winter months of November, December, and January, it is office work, doing year-end books, budgets, bank meetings, and putting together a farm plan for another year. Before you know it it’s time to go planting again. We plant spuds the first of May, but starting in February is when we ship the crop. We store the crop all winter. We just got done with the harvest on October 10th. All the crops are in storage, climate control, and air systems that hold the crop at 380 all winter. And we give money back to the community, to local businesses, 4H, etc. The money stays here.”
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Matt Nelson
Image 1 Caption: Mathew Foth received the Army Commendation Medal.
Photo Credits: Matt Nelson
Image 2 Caption: The roadside signs of Foth Farms.
Photo Credits: Matt Nelson
