A quirky growing season helped and hindered potato growers this year on the eastern Prairies.
Manitoba growers endured long bouts of rain and cool weather throughout much of the spring and summer. The weather created difficult planting and harvesting conditions but it also fostered a bountiful crop.
“We had a record cold summer, but potatoes don’t like heat,” said Tracy Shinners-Carnelly, potato pest management specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.
“They did quite well in the temperatures we had. Yields are reported to be average to above average.”
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Shinners-Carnelly said the crop quality in Manitoba appears to be excellent overall. There were no reports of late blight, a disease that can rob growers of yield and quality, she added.
“On the whole it was pretty good this year,” said Lynne Hood, a grower from Carberry, Man. “We’re fortunate in this area.”
The Manitoba potato harvest was almost complete as of Oct. 12, but some crop was still being harvested in key growing areas including Portage la Prairie and MacGregor. Potato growers like to have the harvest finished before mid-October to avoid cold weather and hard frosts.
Alberta potato growers also reaped a good harvest this year. Harvest was almost complete last week, with the exception of some seed potato crops in northern growing areas.
“It actually turned out well with just a little bit above average yield and good quality,” said Vern Warkentin, executive director of Potato Growers of Alberta.
“They pulled it off in good time, in good condition, so it came off in really good shape.”
Alberta grows processing, seed and table potatoes. The prospects for selling all of this year’s processing and table potatoes look good, Warkentin added.
“There isn’t the surplus to deal with like there was last year because the acres were down and the yield wasn’t exceptional. It was good but not exceptional. I don’t think there will be a marketing difficulty with it at all.”
Alberta producers grew about 52,000 acres of potatoes this year, down about 6,000 acres from 2003. The reduction was due mainly to a decline in demand for processing potatoes, a trend that was felt across North America. Processing potatoes are used to produce french fries and other processed foods.
“Generally sales in North America have been down,” Warkentin said.
Shinners-Carnelly said an estimated 96,000 acres of potatoes were planted in Manitoba this year, compared to 103,000 acres last year. That includes acres planted to processing, seed and table potatoes.
In Saskatchewan, an estimated 13,500 acres were planted to seed and table potatoes, an acreage similar to 2003. The harvest was nearing completion last week, with favourable reports on yield and quality.
“The quality so far seems to be pretty good and the yields are strong,” said Saskatchewan Agriculture vegetable specialist Andrew Sullivan. Irrigated potato production fared slightly better than a year ago, while dryland production also improved because of more rainfall.
About half of Saskatchewan’s potato production is around the Lake Diefenbaker area.
Sullivan noted that late blight was not a problem in Saskatchewan.
“The last three years we haven’t had any reported incidences. This year, it was surprising. The weather conditions we had were perfect for the spread (of the disease) and it never happened, I believe, in Western Canada at all.”
