10/01/07 A very good but not great potato crop

Washington Ag October 1, 2007 Harvest of Washington's 2007 potato crop continues and Dale Lathim of the Washington Potato Growers Association says the yield and quality this year cover a broader range than normal. Lathim: "The early crop we started harvesting back in July was very high yields and great quality and was just a wonderful crop. That kind of continued into August and then as we've gotten into our later varieties they were exposed to more of the extremes in the heat we had this year and didn't get as cool of nights and so we've got quite a variation out there. It is still a very good crop but it is not as consistent. So some fields will be larger in size and some smaller in size. And there are a few other little issues with shape and those issues, but overall it is a good crop. I wouldn't call it a great crop but certainly very good." The Washington Potato Growers Association negotiates contracts with processors for growers and Lathim says the contract price was bumped up significantly for this year. Lathim: "And has kept ahead of inflation with the cost of production so growers should have a very good year." I'm Bob Hoff.