News Harvesting
Canadian potato production expected to see modest growth

The United Potato Growers of Canada (UPGC) is predicting Canada’s 2023 potato crop will increase by 3.3 per cent overall compared to last year.

The estimate comes after the North American Potato Market News (NAPMN) offered a more modest prediction at 2.9 per cent, while saying the U.S. potato market would see a heftier 9.5 per cent increase in production over last year.

Specific to the provinces, UPGC says Saskatchewan will see the largest year-over-year increase in production at 20.6 per cent followed by Alberta at 17.3 per cent. Rounding out the Prairie provinces, Manitoba is expected to see a 8.1 per cent increase in production.

Quebec is anticipated to see the steepest drop in year-over-year production, down 13.9 per cent. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. are all expected to see production declines, with the Maritimes as a whole seeing a 2.8 per cent drop in production.

On the U.S. side, the North Dakota crop is projected at 25.1 million cwt, which is up 9.2 per cent from last year. NAPMN projects Minnesota to be down 3.9 per cent based on 2,200 fewer planted acres. The Idaho crop is expected to be over 20 per cent larger than last year at 145 million cwt, more than a 24 million cwt increase. Washington state is projected to produce over seven million additional cwt this year.