Getting There
When it comes to agricultural production, Washington is set up incredibly well to succeed in international trade. Of course, everything starts at the farms, where Washington’s farmers grow high-quality crops in staggering quantities. Farmers grow so many fruits and vegetables that local residents can’t eat them all. Once those high-quality crops leave the farm, they move through Washington’s transport systems, traveling by truck, train, or barge to one of our 75 international ports. From there, they can be shipped to our largest trade partners in Canada, Mexico, and Asia – destinations such as Vietnam, which is Washington’s fifth-largest export market for agricultural products.
“Vietnam is such a spectrum of everything from supermarkets to wet markets,” said Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, during Washington Grown’s trip to Vietnam in Season 11. “Getting to see our products in all those locations is pretty fascinating. These particular potatoes started out in Skagit Valley. This bag of potatoes was trucked down from Mount Vernon to the Port of Tacoma, where it was put on a ship. It went straight to Singapore, where it was offloaded, put on a smaller ship, and brought here to Vietnam. Finally, [the local Vietnamese distributor] made the rounds and distributed to the stores here.”
Here, in this case, refers to the produce section of a Mega Market, a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City. The store management stocks all sorts of Washington produce, because their customers love them and request them specifically.
“Besides our own locally grown Vietnamese potatoes, U.S. potatoes are the best choice for our customers,” said Paul Ngo, the head organizer for Mega Market Vietnam. “Washington apples are a big seller: we say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
The Mega Market isn’t the only place to discover that the population is hungry for Washington produce. Smaller boutique grocery stores, like Le Square in Ho Chi Minh City, also source fresh and frozen products from Washington.
“There’s a sense of pride to see Washington potatoes all the way over here in Vietnam,” said Voigt. “It makes me really proud of our farmers back home.”
