Some Red River Valley potato marketers could finish a little earlier than usual this year, said Ted Kreis, marketing and communications director for the Northern Great Plains Potato Growers Association.
In the Northern Plains Region, potatoes are grown on about 70,000 acres in North Dakota and 8,800 acres in Minnesota, according to the group.
Marketing conditions in mid-February for the Red River Valley potatoes indicated firmer prices compared with year-ago levels, according to the USDA.
Size B Round red potatoes per 50-pound carton were $19-$20.50 fob on Feb. 11, up from $14.50-$16 at the same time a year ago.
Creamer yellow potatoes per 50-pound carton were $29-$32 fob on Feb. 11 compared with $30 the same time a year ago.
Kreis said Red Reiver Valley growers planted fewer acres of red potatoes in 2021, and drought conditions reduced yields. That means marketers could finish with storage inventories anywhere from a month to six weeks ahead of normal time.
Round red prices took a jump after the holidays, Kreis said.
“With shipping costs the way they are and input costs skyrocketing, it was needed,” he said. “But it’s kind of unprecedented for that to happen.”
Truck supplies have been tight, but shippers have been taking tight transportation conditions in stride because there is no rush to ship potatoes with the shorter crop.
Some of the region’s 13 shippers will be finishing in March and April, rather than a typical May finish.
Yellow potato acreage increased for the Red River Valley in 2021, Kreis said, resulting in the region’s biggest yellow potato crop ever. About a third of the region’s fresh potato crop in 2021 was yellow potatoes, he said.
The region has been receiving good quantities of moisture over the winter, which Kreis said should lead to good planting conditions this spring.
