Potato Concerns
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Even during a busy spring season, potato growers have a lot to think about.
Mike Wenkel, the chief operating officer of the National Potato Council, said some of the industry’s biggest concerns mirror other segments of agriculture …
WENKEL … “So, I think if you look across the board, the issues that are there for specialty crops as a whole, really varies, whether it's import pressure that it's driving the issues, whether it's simply, the increase in input cost that's a part of it, the cost of ag labor continues to increase, as well as simply oversupply in different sectors in potatoes.”
And prices, Wenkel says are a bit part of that …
WENKEL … “It's believed that the current price is considerably below the cost of production, anywhere from an $8 to $10 hundred-weight loss that growers are going to see in some sectors of the U.S. potato industry.”
Potato growers are also looking to open up market demand overseas …
WENKEL … “New markets are a critical part of what we try to do for the industry. Fortunately, we now have Mexico open for fresh potatoes to move into Mexico that's generating about $135 million a year in additional sales of U.S. potatoes into Mexico.”
Beyond that, Wenkel says we're continuing to try to get
Japan open for fresh table stock, as well as just this last couple of weeks, we've seen South Korea open 11 additional states for fresh potatoes to move into there.
