Thompson Potato Company

Customers, staff and potato lovers all benefit from Thompson Potato Company’s commitment to continuous innovation. The Victoria, PEI, company has completed a new state-of-the-art ventilated storage expansion and installed optical sorting equipment to increase processing capability and extend the packing season.

Wayne and his brother James Thompson have been growing their potato processing capacity since they started the company in 2007. After two years of operation, they added temperature-controlled bins that enabled them to double capacity, and in 2014, they increased their packing area from 500 square metres to over 800 m². By 2022, they had fully embraced automation with electronic baggers and an automatic palletizer.

“These steps give us the capacity to better serve growers across PEI, access new export markets, and expand employment opportunities with our company,” says co-owner Wayne Thompson. Specifically, he notes, these innovations enable Thompson Potato to meet customer demand for potatoes year-round.

The company continued to expand in 2024 with a new bagging line and X-ray equipment, efforts to further modernize, diversify and adapt to meet changing market conditions while mitigating implications related to potato wart.

“We have expanded gradually,” says Wayne. That growth has been strategic; Garden Isle Farms, which purchases all the company’s packaged potatoes, needed to have more product available throughout the year. Thompson Potato was pleased to meet that demand. “The number one thing about expansion,” stresses Wayne, “is knowing that you have a market.”

Equally important: the return on investment for the company is significant. “We can now grade potatoes with fewer graders,” says Wayne. “It makes us more efficient. We are faster.”

As of January 2025, Thompson Potato employs 10 people and grows upwards of 20 ha of potatoes annually. The company also packs product from growers across the Island.

The Government of Canada is committed to working with the P.E.I. potato sector to ensure that producers, and the businesses that support them, are positioned for long-term sustainable growth. With support from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Thompson Potato Company has become a prime example of how innovation and resourcefulness fuel Atlantic Canada’s economy, at home and beyond.

For more information on programs and services available to businesses in Atlantic Canada call 1-800-561-7862 or go to canada.ca/acoa.