01/03/06 Spud prices fall on higher shipments

Fresh potato growers who are now shipping their spuds are getting about five dollars per hundredweight less than if they'd wait till later. So says the United Fresh Potato Growers of America. United's Cary Hoffman says so many Russet Burbank potatoes hit the market in recent weeks that prices have fallen. University of Idaho Economist Paul Patterson agrees. PATTERSON "Even with those drops the prices are still significantly better than they were a year ago." There could be a potato problem later this year. The current fresh potato crop is 101.2 million hundredweight but the potatoes are being shipped at the rate of 106.9 million hundredweight, or six percent above what's there. Patterson says growers with contracts for processed potatoes didn't have a lot to smile about. PATTERSON "When you couple those flat contract prices with significant increases in production costs it really hurt a lot of the processed growers this past year. The other issue is that for some of the processed growers they get paid on an incentive adjusted price. They're paid yields were down because of some of the weather issues. Again the gross per acre was negatively impacted." Those growers will soon be negotiating contracts with the processors. Patterson mentioned higher input costs. I guess so, more about that tomorrow. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott