Record Crop
A little good news came last Friday from Statistics Canada. There were 128,115,000 hundredweight (cwt) of potatoes produced in Canada in 2023, up from 123,520,000 cwt in 2022. The average yield was 332.4 cwt per harvested acres, up from 325.1 cwt per harvested acres in 2022.
Canadian potato growers harvested 385,368 acres of spuds, down from the initial 395,389 acres planted at the start of the growing season. In 2022, 379,955 acres were harvested.
These record results speak to the resilience of Canadian potato growers, as each region faced substantial challenges.
Challenging Conditions
It was tough going in regions impacted by export markets such as the Pacific Northwest. They were in an oversupply position. Alberta continued to be challenged with water restrictions due to three successive years of drought.
In PEI the last half of harvest was delayed due to weather and resulting field conditions. Some growers were harvesting the last of their crop in snow. Concerns with wet conditions in the field often build concerns in storage. PEI and growers contending with wet harvest conditions last fall will be watching their crops in storage closely this winter.
“Issues of hollow heart that were seen in the russets in New Brunswick were also seen in Quebec, mostly in the processing sector. The reds and yellows faired much better with reports of good quality. There are concerns of potential storage losses over the winter.” United Potato Growers of Canada (UPGC) said.
Manitoba with a hot dry start, saw promise in the mostly irrigated processor fields, however due to an oversupply (Pacific Northwest) growers abandoned up to 2,000 acres, the UPGC noted. The fresh sector is reporting a good crop despite dry land.
Seed Potato Crop
Thankfully growers can anticipate a silver lining in anticipation of planting this year’s crop.
The Saskatchewan seed crop has done very well. UPGC cautioned dryland areas may be below the three-year average while irrigated fields should yield well.
“It is important to note that all seed areas across the country are reporting very good crops this year, even in Quebec who was the hardest hit with precipitation, the seed sector further north was not as hard hit,” said UPGC.
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