2020 potato acreage is down significantly from last year.
“Acreage overall in Idaho is down more than 11,000 acres,” says Ryan Wahlen of Pleasant Valley Potato in Aberdeen, ID. “I think most people anticipate the yield to be roughly the same as last year.”
The significant drop in acreage is no surprise given the affect of COVID-19 on the restaurant and foodservice industry—particularly on French Fry demand. “There’s uncertainty in the fresh market as far as when the foodservice sector will be able to rebound to where it was prior to the lockdown. The processors, but specifically the French Fry companies, cut their contracts down significantly anticipating lower sales,” says Wahlen. “Normally, a lot of those acres would be planted anyways and growers would take a chance on processors coming back and buying them, or those potatoes making their way to a fresh market. But this year is unique and the uncertainty over whether there would be a market this year led a lot of growers not to plant.”
Harvest at BJ Christensen & Sons, a grower with Pleasant Valley Potato.
Strong retail interest
On the retail side of the business, demand for potatoes has been strong. “It’s stayed much stronger than we’ve ever seen. But obviously not where it was in the foodservice sector,” says Wahlen. “The USDA Box program has helped quite a bit. But we’re waiting for states to open up and restaurant occupancies to return to normal.”
In fact, retail demand has been so strong that it has put pressure on packaging suppliers. “The packaging companies can’t keep the bags in stock,” says Wahlen. “Most aren’t even able to keep up with private label stock. They’re trying to produce just generic labels that pretty much every shipper can use.”
Solid pricing as well
Not surprisingly, pricing for this time of year is strong and has come up since the early but significant pricing drop happened when the lockdown was first enacted. “Prices started to rebound in June and they’ve stayed fairly strong throughout July. Hopefully that will continue into September,” says Wahlen.
He notes that while carton pricing is only up slightly compared to last year at this time, retail bag pricing has climbed approximately 30 percent over last year.
Looking ahead, much remains to be seen how the potato industry will shape up. “The unknown is how quickly the foodservice sector will rebound and how much the increased pack outs, that we always see with new crop, will affect supply,” says Wahlen.
For more information:
Ryan Wahlen
Pleasant Valley Potato
Tel: +1 (208)-397-4194
rwahlen@pleasantvalleypotato.com
http://www.pleasantvalleypotato.com/