Manitoba potato growers and McCain Foods have agreed on a process potato contract for 2014.
Dan Sawatzky, Keystone Potato Producers Association manager, said they settled the contract April 25. He didn’t provide details on potato volumes or price because other negotiations were not finalized.
“We have not settled the other two contracts (with Cavendish Farms or Simplot),” he said.
Now that one company has agreed to terms, the other contracts should move forward, Sawatzky said.
“Usually the other (companies) come in line, but there are always details that need to be worked out and sometimes those details are stumbling blocks.”
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Manitoba farmers grow processing potatoes for a Simplot french fry plant in Portage, McCain Foods’ plants in Carberry and Portage and a Cavendish Farms plant in Jamestown, North Dakota.
Earlier this spring, Sawatzky said the amount of process potatoes grown in Manitoba would drop from the 70,000 acres grown in 2013.
“We know there will be another decrease in volume so (there’s) a lot of concern in the potato industry,” Sawatzky said.
Processors like McCain have said they will cut production in Manitoba unless growers accept lower prices because they can buy raw potatoes more cheaply from high yielding areas like Washington state.
Farmers in most potato growing regions of North America, including Prince Edward Island and Alberta, have already settled their contracts.
Canadian and U.S. growers accepted prices 2.5 to four percent lower than 2013.