When J. A. James Atchley arrived by train in southern Idaho in 1901, he didn’t have the dollar it cost to transport him by stagecoach from the end of the rail line in St. Anthony to the land he intended to homestead. So he began walking the 15 miles, only to receive an unofficial invitation to board the stage because it had no other riders. Rather than show up with one non-paying customer, though, the driver dropped Atchley near Ashton, leaving the newcomer on his own to reach the awaiting land about a mile away in Marysville.

Right: Clen Atchley inspects the future of the seed potato farm his grandfather established in 1901. Photo by Brad Beckman.

Atchley was part of the “Go West Young Man” movement that helped populate the western states and bring cultivation to land that was long on promise but short on manpower. He and brother Shelley set out from North Carolina in 1899, working on the rapidly expanding railroad. They landed in Colorado where both became seriously ill. James recovered first and pressed on into southern Idaho where he wanted to stake a claim on 80 acres of arid land that contained only sagebrush, juniper, and occasional aspen.

Official homestead documents indicate the Atchley farm was born in 1901; grandson Clen and other descendants gathered this summer to celebrate the year the “earth was turned,” a year before it will officially qualify for Idaho Historical Society Century Farm status. The past 100 years have been marked by many successes and a few failures, but Clen and wife Emma are committed to perpetuating the family heritage for as long as the economy permits.

Atchley was part of the “Go West Young Man” movement that helped populate the western states and bring cultivation to land that was long on promise but short on manpower.

Grandfather Atchley secured the first 80 acres and hoped to complement it with a parcel of similar size that was for sale nearby. Lacking the $50 required to double the homestead, and finding no financial support from his father in North Carolina, he settled for the 80 acres—half of a standard homestead size. He later moved to Tetonia, about 29 miles away, where he claimed another 160 acres, but he decided against farming the higher elevation land. Instead, he tendered a land swap with Shelley, who also had settled near Marysville. That provided 200 acres from which to carve a diverse farming operation that endures three generations later.
Establishing the farm proved as arduous a task in the early 1900s as it is to sustain one in year 2001. Today’s Atchley farm, which is best known for producing top-quality seed potatoes, includes wheat, hay, and some cattle.

“That didn’t come fast,” Clen says of the eventual expansion. “First, he had to clear the land of sagebrush, junipers, and aspen. With one person and one horse, you don’t do much in a year.”

And like today, homesteaders sometimes had to find work off the farm to sustain their first love. For several years in the early 1900s James raised horses and operated a stage in the nation’s first national park—Yellowstone. He later worked on the Jackson Dam in western Wyoming and the road that led to it. He and his brother also helped build a canal system that still quenches the thirst of the region’s farms with water from Fall River.

Although the original lands, and other pieces acquired over the years, were passed on to James’ three sons and daughter (Bill, Preston, Alonzo, and Emmaline), Clen is the only descendant still active in farming. He inherited his father Preston’s portion of the homestead, later acquired most of the land once owned by Alonzo, and rents property that was passed on from Bill.

Above left: Emma Atchley nurtures young potato plants that start out as mini-tubers at a University of Idaho lab in Moscow. Photo by Brad Beckman.

Operating under the “Flying A” banner, Clen and his wife Emma are recognized throughout the Northwest for the quality of their seed potatoes. They have an independent, but closely related, operation that generates mini-tubers from plantlets provided by University of Idaho researcher Lorie Ewing. The mini-tubers produce a “nuclear” generation of seed potatoes that can be further multiplied to provide up to three more generations before the process begins anew.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for the University of Idaho and its researchers,” Emma explains. Her ties with the university are rooted more than just in the soil, however. She earned a degree in English from the UI in 1968, two years after her husband earned a degree in plant science there. Clen is president of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences alumni board and is a member of the centennial planning committee; and Emma is president of the University of Idaho Foundation.

Through purchases or rentals, Clen and Emma have expanded the farm the past 30 years, and have been able to withstand numerous economic storms. Perhaps none has challenged them as much as the present condition that brings several worst-case scenarios to the forefront:

• For the second straight year, skies have produced sub-normal precipitation, and water supplies are dwindling
• Market prices for potatoes—and hence, seed potatoes—are at a near all-time low
• Increased foreign competition, both for raw and processed products, is suffocating many U.S. potato growers and
• Soaring energy costs have added significantly to production costs.

In the early ’70s when Clen and Emma began farming, the region sustained 76 seed potato growers; now there are 16, and the prospects for those survivors are growing dimmer. The Atchleys once provided seed potatoes to 40 growers; seven have gone out of business, forcing the Atchleys to look for other markets. Any new allegiance they form only takes away from other seed producers.

“It is extremely and fundamentally rewarding to work the land and experience what I call the annual miracle…of planting a crop and watching it grow.”

“If we stay in the cycle we’re in now, I’ll have to change this operation,” says Clen as he gazed out the window at emerging spring crops. “I can’t say how we’ll ride out this low, because I’m not sure how long it will last.”

Emma admits to being “cautiously pessimistic.”

“People do not realize the impact that agriculture has on the economy. It’s a true producer of wealth. Farming is a fundamental part of any civilization,” she adds. “The whole structure of an economy used to be based on a pyramid with agriculture as the base and consumers on top. Now the pyramid is inverted.” Farmers, she explains, are expected to produce more, with higher costs and lower profits.

“One of the reasons I got into farming was because of the challenge and variability. You’re not doing the same thing every day,” says Clen. “All you needed for success is to be part traffic cop and part juggler… I still enjoy it, but I enjoy it a lot more when I can make money. I intensely dislike losing money.”

Below: Computer technology enables the Atchleys to monitor pivot irrigation systems from the comfort of their office in Ashton. Photo by Mel Coulter.

He attributes much of the sagging potato market in the U.S. on competition from Canada, a striking parallel to what the Northwest’s timber producers are experiencing. NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), Clen contends, is crippling U.S. potato growers. The monetary exchange rate makes it more profitable for Canadian producers to export products, both raw and processed, into the United States. “We’re now a net importer of French fries into the U.S., and that infuriates me,” Clen says. “I’m all for fair trade, but not free trade. And there’s a big difference.”

The future of the Flying A might be influenced by another factor that is becoming more common among farmers today: a new generation that increasingly looks beyond the land to provide their material needs. Clen and Emma have two daughters, Evelyn, who is a graphic artist in Menlo Park, Calif., and Laura, who is completing work on a master’s degree in international agricultural economics at the UI. It remains unclear whether the latter will continue the farming tradition into a fourth generation.

Despite her skepticism regarding the current status of agriculture, Emma isn’t ready to turn away from a life-long relationship with the land.

“It is extremely and fundamentally rewarding to work the land and experience what I call the annual miracle… planting a crop and watching it grow.”
 

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