As of October 1, it appears that Alberta potato seed growers will have their harvest complete before the commercial industry reaches 75 per cent of their harvest. That’s the report of Terence Hochstein, executive director, Potato Growers of Alberta.  Here’s his October 1 column in the newsletter to provincial growers. 

“It has been a strange year indeed, with rain events over the last 10 days in southern Alberta delaying harvest. At this time of year, it takes a lot of sunshine and wind to dry things out. Just because the top looks dry does not mean that six inches down we don’t have straight mud. The sandier soils tend to dry out quicker but even they have a limit when it comes to saturation. Let’s hope the weather holds and we get another two to three weeks of harvest weather. Right now, the two-week forecast looks promising, but everyone knows that can change over night during this time of year.

Harvest across North America is well underway and the reports out of the various growing areas are all over the place. Prince Edward Island was off to a tremendous year and had one of their better crops coming on. Then summer hit and the rains stopped. Potatoes do not fare well without moisture and inevitably the shine wore off their crop. Right now, they are hoping that an average crop ends up in their warehouses when all is said and done.

New Brunswick, depending on the growing area, has a variable crop but anything is better than what they experienced last season. That was a disaster for their industry and growers cannot take those kinds of years on the chin very often. Québec and Ontario have a mixed bag of reports coming out as well. 

Moving west, Manitoba started out cool and wet in the spring much like Alberta did, then the summer heat came along and the rains stopped, leading to the optimism of a great crop rapidly disappearing. The seven inches of rain in the last two weeks, in some of their growing areas, will not lead to a pleasant harvest. Even if they do get their crop out of the ground, will it store long-term? Only time will tell on that one. We hope for the best for our neighbors across the nation.

With the Alberta crop starting out late due to cool, wet weather in May and June, it looks like our yields will end up trending towards our five-year average, 386.5 cwt/acre. This, in itself, is not bad considering the year and the fact that the North American growers are trying to dig out from under a year of excess production in 2023. Reports out of the Basin are that they are harvesting a very good crop and yields will probably be above their average. 

Once harvest is complete, we will have a better picture of how the PGW growers did. Idaho is well into their harvest as well and indications are they have a good crop coming on. Couple that with the always planted open acres in Idaho, and come November we will have a better idea of what the total pile of potatoes looks like across North America.”

Source:  Potato Growers of Alberta October 1, 2024 newsletter