SUPPLIER SAYS MOST REGIONS HAVE SEEN GOOD QUALITY POTATO CROPS, WITH MANY HARVESTING AHEAD OF TIME
THERE is likely to be an abundance of russet potatoes throughout north America this winter, according to east coast-based Cambridge Farms, which supplies and ships across the nation.
The company’s President/CEO, Ken Gad, who co-founded the company in 1983, said its storage partners have seen a good quality Russet potato crop, with most growers harvesting on time, or ahead of time, thanks to good weather conditions.
“It was almost to a point where it’s been too warm and too dry in many areas,” he said.
Growing regions such as Idaho didn’t reduce their acreage enough this season to avoid a too-plentiful crop and processors have cut back their demand for Russet potatoes, so more crops are destined for the fresh market.
East Coast regions such as Maine and New Brunswick have had strong potato crops with good quality and tonnage.
In Idaho and Colorado, there are excessively large size profiles which could be a problem when supplying normal holiday business in consumer packs, Ken said. “They’re going to way over-produce their large cartons of 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70 counts. They can’t move them fast enough and they’ve got an exceptionally large supply of that in their storage.”
Growing areas such as North Dakota, Manitoba, and other parts of Canada are also seeing a very large crop of good-quality red potatoes.
Yellow potatoes continue to gain popularity with fewer opting to grow white potatoes this season.
Source: Fresh Plaza
