Robert K. Irving ran J.D. Irving Ltd. alongside his brother, Jim, and was responsible for what is perhaps the company’s most recognizable product, the Cavendish Farms French fry.The Canadian Press/The Canadian Press
Maritime business leader Robert K. Irving died Tuesday, leaving behind a lasting legacy for Canadian farming and for the frozen potato industry.
The 71-year-old was the fifth generation to lead J.D. Irving Ltd., a company started in 1882 by Scottish emigrants that has expanded into a business that now employs 20,000 people across sectors such as forestry, retail, shipbuilding, construction, transportation and agriculture.
He was the second-oldest son of the late James Kenneth Irving, who was chairman of J.D. Irving Ltd., and grandson of the late empire builder K.C. Irving.
He ran J.D. Irving Ltd. alongside his brother, Jim, and was responsible for what is perhaps the company’s most recognizable product; the Cavendish Farms French fry.
The Irving potato empire – the fourth-largest in North America – started in 1980 when Mr. Irving’s father purchased a vegetable-processing plant in the small, rural community of New Annan, PEI. The plant was named after the famous Cavendish Beach that stretches along the island’s coastline. Cavendish Farms has since expanded to two plants in PEI, making it the largest private-sector contributor to the island’s GDP and its largest net exporter annually.
It also operates plants in Alberta, Ontario and the U.S. state of North Dakota. Its Canadian operations employ nearly 2,000 people, and source from 130 growers. All Cavendish products sold in Canada are made using Canadian potatoes.
The key to success is details, and getting involved in day-to-day business operations, Mr. Irving said in an interview he gave the podcast Acadia Insights in December, 2024.
“The best fertilizer a farmer could have to run his farm would be his footprints in the fields,” he said, recalling nights when his father got him out of bed and took him to the pulp mill to learn about what was happening on the ground. “In the office, you only get part of the story,” he said.
Under Mr. Irving’s tenure, the company went from selling around 25 million pounds of French fries on an annual basis, to approximately one billion. Cavendish also accounts for 44 per cent of market share in the Canadian retail French fry business, Mr. Irving said on the podcast.
The company’s impact went beyond sales.
In 2009, Cavendish built the largest biogas plant in North America, located in PEI, to generate renewable energy from potato waste.
Cavendish also operates a $12.5-million research centre in PEI, which funds the largest potato-breeding program in the country, and aims to find varieties more resistant to drought and disease. It was “another step to help support potato growers and the potato industry on the Island,” Mr. Irving said when the research centre opened in 2020. The company owns a licensed russet variety that – according to its website – requires less water, less fertilizer and less pest control.
Mr. Irving loved to be “where the action was – in the fields with farmers, on the manufacturing floor, or in transport terminals,” said a news release published by J.D. Irving Ltd. Tuesday morning.
In addition to Cavendish, Mr. Irving was also involved in the company’s fertilizer business, its tissue sector, its transportation and trucking companies, and its New Brunswick-based diaper business, the only manufacturer of baby diapers and training pants in Canada.
Mr. Irving was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2023. He was also inducted into the New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame and the PEI Business Hall of Fame, and was awarded the Order of Moncton and the Order of New Brunswick in recognition of his extensive community involvement and economic contribution.
Mr. Irving died in Moncton after 40 years of living in the community and a long battle with cancer.
“Robert was a dedicated leader whose work helped shape our economy and communities,” said New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt on Tuesday. “His legacy will continue through his business and through the lives he impacted.”