Maine Potato Board hopeful of China developments

The Maine Potato Board is watching developments overseas and trying to anticipate what it could mean for future exports for the potato industry, now that China’s Ministry of Agriculture has stated that the country will boost production to make the potato one of the nation’s staple foods.

Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board, said the announcement will not have a major direct impact on the Maine potato industry, since there is “no way that Maine would export potatoes to China.”

But he said it may open up markets for western potato growers to market their potatoes to China, which could increase the demand for Maine potatoes in other U.S. markets

According to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report highlighted by the Maine Potato Board last week, China’s Ministry of Agriculture said China was boosting its potato production and consumption to transform the crop into the country’s fourth major staple after rice, wheat and corn. The Ministry of Agriculture is looking to expand potato acreage to 10 million hectares (about 24.7 million acres) by 2020 from the current 5.6 million hectares, or roughly 14 millions acres, without using land currently used for rice, wheat and corn production.

Source: Potato Grower