With planting of upcoming potato crops weeks away, one thing seems certain following this year's challenging potato market. "There's going to be acreage cut," says Ryan Wahlen of Pleasant Valley Potato. "There are growers who have lost their farms. Others are being told that the bank won't finance them for potato acreage and other growers are having their process contracts cut. In some cases, it's a forced acreage reduction."
This comes amidst a greater level of potato supply this year than last year. "The prices are reflecting that," says Wahlen. "Relative to the cost to grow potatoes, these are historically low prices and historic losses for growers. I've been doing this for 26 years now and I've never seen pricing this bad."
© Pleasant Valley Potato
While Idaho saw a substantial 2025-2026 potato crop, demand has been very good on potatoes and movement is ahead of the previous year even. However there are still plenty of potatoes in the state. It's anticipated that there won't be problems covering orders through the end of July and into August.
However, this winter has been a very warm one in Idaho. "As you get deeper into the season, pack outs drop. This winter has been the warmest that I can remember and that has had an impact on the quality of the potatoes in storage," says Wahlen. "That helps tighten supply."
April potato planting
Looking ahead, following that unseasonably warm weather, planting of potatoes may start in the first week of April. He also notes that following this year's difficult season, some growers are planting alternative crops such as wheat, corn or sugar beets. However they're finding the pricing they're receiving for those crops are also below the cost of production.
With plans ahead of potato planting, Wahlen notes there's a factor that needs to be considered going into the 2025-2026 season.
© Pleasant Valley Potato
"There's going to be a lot of pressure on sales groups in the industry-set pricing at a level that allows the grower to at least break even next year," he says. "It costs $12/sack to grow potatoes. That's the average grower cost more or less. Right now Idaho growers in some cases are returning less than $2/sack, or at best, $3.50-$4/sack. So the pressure on sales groups will be enormous."
This also falls on the heels of two consecutive years where Idaho potato growers lost money. "At some point the equity that they may have established is going to dry up. So they're going to find it very difficult, if not impossible, to get refinanced for potatoes," Wahlen says. "If we want to have an industry, pricing has to be, at least, break even so they can keep doing it another year. That is a fact."
For more information:
Ryan Wahlen
Pleasant Valley Potato
Tel: +1 (208) 397-4194
[email protected]
http://www.pleasantvalleypotato.com/
