Nearly 130,000 acres of seed potatoes have been certified by United States state seed certification agencies for 2002 planting.
In Canada, the figure is 78,000 acres.
The Potato Certification Association of Nebraska at Alliance released these figures for the Potato Association of America.
Idaho, which leads all U.S. states in seed production, totaled 36,065 acres. Second-leading seed-producing state is North Dakota with 20,682. Maine climbed into the third-place spot this year over Colorado, 14,820 to 13,031.
Rounding out the top five is Wisconsin at 10,215.
In Canada, Prince Edward Island topped provincial seed production with 24,525 acres. A distant second was New Brunswick at 16,707. Alberta had 13,675 and Manitoba 9,253. Rounding out the top five is Saskatchewan at 5,237 acres.
Russet Burbank continues to be the variety of choice in both the United States and Canada. There were 38,953 acres certified in the U.S. and 20,296 in Canada.
Second favorite variety is Russet Norkotah with over 14,000 acres grown in the U.S. Canada's favorite variety is Shepody with 7,725 acres.