Potato stocks on par with previous year
As farmers begin to plant the 2018 potato crop, about one-third of last year’s crop remains in storage, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service reports. That percentage is on par with last year.
Last season, farmers grew fewer acres of potatoes than the previous year, Idaho Potato Commission President and CEO Frank Muir said.
Idaho, which produces nearly one-third of the nation’s potatoes, grew 131.3 million hundredweight last year, down from 2016 production of 139.3 million hundredweight. About 38 percent of the 2017 crop remains in storage.
Washington, the second-largest potato producer, had a crop of 99.0 million hundredweight and has 30 percent of its crop remaining.
Oregon grew 21.4 million hundredweight and has one-third of its crop remaining.
Overall, NASS said the 13 major potato-production states held 133.6 million hundredweight in storage April 1, up 2 percent from a year ago.
Potato disappearance, at 266 million hundredweight, was down 3 percent. Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 19 million hundredweight, was down 8 percent.
In the eight largest potato-processing states, processors had used 146 million hundredweight for the season as of April 1, up 1 percent from a year earlier, NASS reported.
In Idaho and in Malheur County, Ore., processors had used 54.1 million hundredweight for the season as of April 1, down 1 percent from a year earlier.
In other Oregon counties and the state of Washington combined, processors used 61.8 million hundredweight for the season, also down slightly.
Dehydrated usage accounted for 25.8 million hundredweight of the total processed, down 3 percent.
In Wilder, Idaho, Doug Gross grows potatoes for the fresh market and for processing. He expected to start planting April 19.
“We are right on schedule with a normal year,” he said, referring to his potato plantings. He sees good planting conditions on his southwest Idaho farm, including soil temperatures on track with 10-year averages.
Gross said adequate water bodes well for production, but final 2018 results will depend largely on summer growing conditions and weather.
“We just have to see what the weather brings,” he said.