Opinions on Potatoes

 Potatoes in 2009. Do we look back or look ahead? You know everything in life can be viewed from a perspective. Listen to the President of the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association, Chuck Gunnerson, who said recently that from a production standpoint, 2009 turned out to be an average year. “We did lose some of our acreage early on in the summer, we also lost a little bit of acreage at the end of our deal when it got to cold.

 Hey, we had a wet spring and early frost in Idaho but listen to the Idaho Potato Commission’s Seth Pemsler: “When he talks about volume, he’s talking about the Northern Plains. Idaho volume is actually up significantly. “We’re getting about $3 less per hundredweight on our fresh red market and the reason for that is that there I an overabundance of Russet potatoes that we’re gowing in Idaho, Wisconsin and other various states.”

 Now back to Seth: “ We grew an awful lot of potatoes. The total industry grew an awful lot of potatoes and because of that pricing has been down.”

 But as Seth also said, it’s the job of the potato commission to try and find markets for Idaho potatoes and they usually do a darned good job of that.