Idaho's 2003 potato crop continues to make good headway despite the record-breaking hot dry weather.
As of August 17, the crop was described as 16 percent excellent, 70 percent good, 12 percent fair and 2 percent poor.
Soil moisture continues to be a problem, however. The IASS report shows soil moisture to be 35 percent very short, 43 percent short, and 22 percent adequate.
As of the reporting date, 1 percent of the crop had been harvested in western Idaho. A total of 18 percent of the state's potato vines are down or killed compared to 8 percent last year and an average of 9 percent by that date.