American potato growers want to bring their production in line with demand and are hoping Canadian growers will join the effort.
A national organization is being formed in the United States that may develop a program that pays producers to cut production in years when surpluses are anticipated.
Overtures have been made toward Canada about broadening that effort across North America, said Jeff Raybould, vice-chair of United Fresh Potato Growers of Idaho.
“Everybody is very concerned about the current market climate and that’s why we’re being as aggressive as we can to try to get this supply under control,” he said.
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“We intend to, at a point of time when we’re organized in the United States, and hopefully including Canada, to have a sophisticated production control mechanism.”
One idea is to use a checkoff to create a fund to pay producers to reduce acreage in years of potential oversupply. Raybould hoped a plan would be in place as early as this year, but there are no decisions about how to structure the supply management.
“All of these things are a whole lot more difficult than they originally appeared on the surface.”
Raybould said the plan is to include growers of table and processing potatoes because overproduction of one can affect prices for the other.
Part of the effort will include finding alternative uses for surplus potatoes so they do not weigh on prices. Cattle feed and composting are possibilities, he said.
Although the Americans might one day propose a shared supply management plan with Canada, a marriage of that kind seems unlikely.
Canadian grower groups have their own strategies to bring potato acres in line with demand.
In Prince Edward Island, for example, where there is a surplus of fresh potatoes, growers have been asked to voluntarily divert potatoes from the market, even if it means feeding them to livestock or dumping them on fields.
That has so far diverted about 500,000 hundredweight from the market, which is a third of the 1.5 million cwt. targeted, said Dwight Gardiner, chair of the P.E.I. Potato Board.
Gardiner said part of the emphasis now is on trimming potato plantings this year to fit with market demand.
P.E.I. producers have seen a declining market for their fresh potatoes, partly because of increasing competition from other countries in the export market. Freight costs and a stronger Canadian currency have reduced their competitiveness.
In Alberta, another important potato growing province, supply was in step with demand this past year, said Vern Warkentin of Potato Growers of Alberta. Growers there are also trying to match area planted to demand, which is driven largely by contracts with processors wanting potatoes for french fry and chip manufacturing.
“I know it’s a big effort and I hope they succeed because there is an oversupply of potatoes in North America,” said Warkentin, referring to the supply management plan in the U.S.
John Keeling, executive vice-president of the U.S.-based National Potato Council, finds it hard to talk about a joint effort of American and Canadian growers when there are still trade irritants to overcome.
He said the council has had concerns about access to the Canadian market for years and sees trade barriers that restrict potato exports to Canada.
“Anything we do to reduce supply in this country is just an additional help to Canadian growers,” Keeling said. “We have actually reduced (potato) acreage in this country and at the same time acreage in Manitoba and other provinces has gone up because they have dedicated access to their processing plants. It’s not fair and we’re not going to sit back and watch it happen anymore.”
Gardiner said Manitoba growers were only responding to the needs of an expanding processing industry in their province.
