The latest update from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has Washington's potato stocks for December at levels higher than potato stocks for December of 2011. National stocks were also higher than last year's December levels.Potatoes stored in Washington were estimated at 58.5 million cwt at the start of the month, which is 2.0 million cwt higher than stocks held in storage at the start of December of last year. Potato stocks for the 13 states with the highest potato production were also up for the month. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service estimated that those states held 280 million cwt of potatoes in storage at the start of this month, which is 11 percent more than were held in December of 2011.