Washington Potato Outlook Pt 1
I'm Bob Larson. Potato harvest is right around the corner in Washington state and even after a colder and snowier winter than usual, growers appear to be fairly optimistic.Washington Potato Commission's Matthew Blua says weather has added more questions than answers about this year's crop ...
BLUA ... "I think you hit on the real key point about this year and that is the weather's been a little bit different. We had a real late winter and some Basin growers about a month late getting into the ground and the ground they got into was kind of wet and cold."
But, Blua says some of the doubts have been removed ...
BLUA ... "We were concerned early on that there might be some seed rot in the ground. Well, they put them in that cold, wet ground but we haven't seen so much of that. But, because it got in the ground so late it's going to probably impact the early harvested crop and that might, may be a little bit late, but it probably will not impact the late season harvested crop."
He says the extended winter was only part of the problem ...
BLUA ... "In addition to having a late winter, we also had a lot of snow this year and what happens when it snow is that snow acts as a really big temperature buffer. So, even if we have real cold weather, because there's a snow layer insulating the ground, the soil doesn't get real cold."
Listen tomorrow for more on this year's potato crop and the biggest challenges brought on by the weather.