Harvest time for Twin Falls, Idaho ‘World Famous Potatoes’
So how does this year’s harvest compare to prior years?
"Well we're still uncertain, obviously there is still some digs that are taking place and the harvest will not be completed for another couple 2 to 3 weeks but it looks like we harvested in the neighbourhood of 321,000 acres and anticipate it will be in the ball park of about 13 billion pounds," said Frank Muir, President and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission.
With almost 13 billion pounds of potatoes being harvested this year.
What does that equate to in dollar signs?
"It just really depends on what the average price is for the year. In this past year we approached a billion dollars in farm gate revenue. So it's really hard to say, it depends on what the average price is," said Muir.
With crop numbers looking strong for the year, farmers are hopeful that they will be getting top price for their potatoes. And all this, despite one of the wettest harvest seasons in recent memory.
"It's a challenge that our growers have learned to adapt to. This is probably the wettest harvest that we've had in more than 10 years," Said Muir.
But what, if any, impacts did this wet weather play on crop numbers this fall?
"What it did probably was take a little top off this crop. There were those that were predicting that our crop was going to come in larger than we anticipated, this was a couple months ago. And now i think this probably reduced that projection. I think we'll be in the 5 year yield, I don't think we will be anywhere near the top of that yield. But I think we will be in the 5 year average," Said Muir.
Not the best harvest season for the Gem Sates’ potato crop, but still the number one crop in the state and a world recognized brand that continues to grow.
Source: kmvt.com
