Canadian potato farmers have enjoyed their second straight record production year, with Alberta leading the way among provinces.--FILE PHOTO
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
According to the Dec. 7 release by Statistics Canada, the 2022 potato harvest in Canada yielded 120 million hundredweight, a 0.8 per cent increase year over year. The report says this is the second consecutive record potato production for Canada and is due to slight increases in both seeded area and yield.
Alberta led the way this year, with yields up 8.9 per cent overall to 26.8 million hundredweight, producing 21.8 per cent of Canadian potatoes. Prince Edward Island produced 21.6 per cent of the national average and Manitoba 21.3 per cent.
Seeded area increased across the country increased by 0.9 per cent. Alberta saw the highest increase in seeded areas at 6.8 per cent. Quebec and Manitoba also saw increases although P.E.I., B.C. and Ontario all had decreases in seeded area.
According to the October report by the United Potato Growers of Canada (UPGC), favourable weather conditions during harvest helped Alberta growers get the potato crop out of the ground. However, due to the hailstorm in July and extreme heat in August, early reports showed a disappointing yield. Quality was good but the size profile was variable with many growers reporting smaller than average.
The Potato Minute, a newsletter of the Potato Growers of Alberta, has similar data for the 2022 harvest. In the October issue, executive director Terrence Hochstein writes, “The 2022 growing season will be looked upon as a season of oddities. A cold and dry spring, finally after four years, a June rain, a hot, windy July and August, a few hailstorms, followed up with 35-37 degree temperatures the first week of September has left growers in various degrees of disappointment on their 2022 crop. It looks like the overall yields for the seed, fresh and processing industries will all end up being about average for this crop.”
According to the December holding report for UPGC however, it looks like the crop was good after all. Potato holding averages are up across the country. Fresh holdings, potatoes intended for table use, are up 9.1 per cent above the three-year average. Alberta and Manitoba showed the highest increases by percentage, which the report claims are due to the excellent growing season in both provinces.
All provinces, except for Alberta and P.E.I., report a decrease in their processing holdings. Alberta has a 20.5 per cent increase over 2021 and 18.6 per cent increase over the three-year average for process holdings.
As of 2022, Alberta certifies 25 per cent of the seed potato acres nationally. Consequently, the largest seed stocks are in this province and they are 5.9 per cent higher than in 2021 and 5 per cent above the three-year average.
