The weather has been kind, providing Wisconsin potato growers with a very good summer production season. The earliest harvest started well in mid-August. Weather permitting, growers expect a very good fall harvest.
“It’s been a great growing season. It’s gone real well,” said Mike Carter, CEO of Bushmans’, Inc., in Rosholt, Wis.
Wisconsin’s potato growing season started slowly with a spring season “that ran very late,” Carter continued. “We had snow well into the spring. We were a couple weeks late getting into the fields. But since then we have had almost ideal conditions. For potatoes, you’d rather have it cooler than warmer, and we’ve only had one day over 90 degrees. The crop is looking good.”
When The Produce News spoke with Carter on Aug. 14, the potatoes that were among the first to be harvested hadn’t yet matured to make carton sizes, “but we have a good-looking, A-size pack,” Carter said. Bushmans’ expected to be putting potatoes into storage by mid-September.
Carter estimated that Bushmans’ potato crop volume-wise “is average now. It’s nothing below average. It will probably be above average at the end of the day. We still have four weeks until we pack cartons. Tell me the weather and I could dial it in.”
Carter noted, “I am always cautiously optimistic” but he expected Bushmans’ crop to “probably be close to last year,” which brought a very large crop.
Carter believed Bushmans’ crop is likely representative of the state’s potato crop as a whole. “I’d be surprised if anyone else has a different story,” he said. “Our volume this year will be similar to last year’s volume.”
The Wisconsin potato industry carries a freight advantage relative to much of the national potato business. “We are quicker to market and have shorter food miles,” Carter said.
He added that Wisconsin growers characteristically “do a good job of growing for customer demand. There is not a lot of speculation. We are in this for the long-term, not the short-term. We like to maintain a balance of supply and demand.” This season, “it will be interesting to see how other areas deal with supply and demand. If another area has too many potatoes, it has an effect on Wisconsin, but we can maintain and hold the market better in long-term marketing.”
Randy Shell, vice president of marketing and new business development for RPE Produce, Inc., which is headquartered in Bancroft, Wis., indicated that RPE is “expecting excellent quality with very good yields, and we will see a good mix of sizing as the season gets into full swing.”
On Aug. 20, Shell said, “We are well under way for our harvest season, although we started a week or two later than the past two years due to a rainy start in Wisconsin and Minnesota. We are harvesting now and will continue to put product into storage through the first week of October.”
Shell noted that Wisconsin growers “have seen rain come in downpours, but we’ve had a rather dry season excepting that. The cool nights and warm days have made for great growing conditions other than the aforementioned rainy spells or lack thereof.”
Looking at the national potato market for the 2014 crop, Shell said, “It looks like our industry is going to have a very large crop across the country with very nice quality and a good mix of sizes. We anticipate a year with great promotional opportunities for retailers, and consumers will benefit with great values. A lot can happen in the next few weeks, but it does not look like we will have a strong market at this point.”
Mike Finnessy, president and a family owner of Okray Farms, Inc., in Plover, Wis., said Aug. 21 that the potato market was dropping “by dollars a day” in light of 8,000 additional potato acres that were planted in Idaho this season. “It is very frustrating,” he said. Meanwhile, Wisconsin is producing “real good quality,” he added. Wisconsin growers are “trying to target long-term pricing.”
Also commenting on the Wisconsin industry’s potato marketing strategy, Shell said, “An advantage would be that growers aren’t left with potatoes at the end of the season and we can stabilize prices, but if there is more demand than was expected, supplies could be tight late in the season.”
Finnessy said the majority of Wisconsin’s potato crop will be harvested between Sept. 10 and Oct. 10.
Source: The Produce News