Potato Review

34 POTATO REVIEW SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 GLOBAL NEWS Dry times in Maine THE Maine Potato Board in the USA says the outlook is currently bleak for its growers because of lack of rainfall. Since the end of planting, conditions have been dry, with little relief in sight. Don Flannery, Executive Director of the Maine Potato Board, said there had only been an inch of rain since the end of May in some areas and fields are extremely dry. “Growers that have been irrigating, have been irrigating for quite a while and I suspect some of those water sources are getting limited, at this point,” he recently revealed on a local news site. He said it had been dry since planting, which had impacted the crops, and growers were uncertain how things would play out through August, however crops were holding up pretty well given the circumstances. NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE Retail sales up 11% RETAIL potato sales in the US hit a five-year high between July 2019 and June 2020, increasing by 11% in dollars and 10% in volume. Potato chips and fresh potatoes, which make up a majority of sales, were both up, with fresh potatoes increasing 15% in dollars year-over-year, according to a report by American TV channel RFD-TV. Additionally, all pack sizes saw double digit growth. Canned, frozen and dehydrated potatoes were also all up more than 10% year-over-year in both dollars and volume. Largest state sees 25% decrease in processing orders WISCONSIN, which grows the most varieties of any potato producing state in the USA, has seen a 25% decrease in processor contracts since the shutdown of the nation’s foodservice industry earlier this year. The Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) said there had been large volume reductions for growers who supply McCain Foods. But the association’s Executive Director, Tamas Houlihan, recently told the Wisconsin State Farmer that some of the market lost earlier in the year is now returning, “McCain recently has contacted its growers in search of additional potatoes,” he said, adding that that particular sector of the Wisconsin potato industry represents only about 20% of the state’s overall production. “We are primarily a fresh stock (41%) and chip stock (28%) potato state (the remaining 11% is in certified seed potato production). All the other sectors of the Wisconsin potato industry are doing well in spite of COVID.” About 45% of the state’s production goes to grocery stores and those can be a number of di¡erent varieties — russet, white, red. It also grows a significant amount of yellow-skin potatoes, and Tamas said there’s a large specialty potato market. He said that over the past 20 years, consumption of canned and frozen vegetables had been slowly declining but, with the advent of the coronavirus, people are now stocking up on cans, which could have a positive impact on growers. Millions of crops buried in North-west GROWERS in North West America have been forced to throw away millions of potatoes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. A report by Business Insider , published by AG Daily,profiles some of the growers who have had nowhere to sell their crops. Zak Miller, CEO of Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, reiterated that farmers were doing everything in their power to not have to throw out their produce. In the video, potato farmers Bill and Peggy of Buyan Ranch, Sheridan, Montana. These potato farmers have a diverse operation, but like so many other farmers during this pandemic, explain why they have had to throw out 700 tons of potatoes because of the pandemic. Even after donating their produce, Buyan Ranch still could not avoid burying their hard work and countless hours of labor. Potato production in the Northwest was strong in 2019, and the outlook for 2020 had been good according to the Washington State Potato Commission. Executive Director Chris Voigt said: “We had a good harvest of the 2019 crop, great quality, strong yields, and strong pricing for our growers and shippers.” Watch the video at www.agdaily.com/video/potato-farmers-tons.