Manitoba is digging into Prince Edward Island’s lead as Canada’s potato king.
Canada is growing more potatoes, and Manitoba is largely responsible for the increase, according to new numbers from Statistics Canada.
The agency reported Friday that potato production in the country is up 4.1 percent in 2015, with Manitoba alone accounting for 57.2 percent of the increase.
“I think the potential is there for us to match P.E.I.’s total output,” said Dan Sawatzky, manager of the Keystone Potato Producers Association. He “would not rule out” Manitoba surpassing P.E.I in the future, he said.
In 2015, P.E.I. represented 23.7 percent of Canada’s total potato production. Manitoba was close on its heels at 20.6 per cent.
Prince Edward Island prides itself on being Canada’s king of potatoes. The island is Canada’s largest potato producer and the industry is worth more than $1 billion to the province, according to the Prince Edward Island Potato Board.
P.E.I.’s love affair with the crop goes so deep, one Islander recently proposed to his girlfriend using potatoes.
The recent surge in Manitoba’s potato production has to do with how much the primary potato processors—McCain’s, Simplot, and Cavendish Farms—contract out to farms. All three demanded fewer potatoes for 2013 and 2014 from Manitoba farms, but in 2015 all three demanded more.
Looking at the long-term trend, however, Sawatzky said, it’s clear Manitoba is doing its best to catch up to P.E.I. The industry has grown substantially in Manitoba over the past 20 years, he said.
“There was a major expansion in 1997 here with the McCain plant in Portage. Simplot built a new plant in 2003 … McCain’s also purchased the Carberry plant from Nestlé Foods,” said Sawatzky.
The potato industry in the East isn’t keeping up with that pace, he said.
“Growth isn’t continuing as much or as strong [in] the East … McCain’s closed [its] P.E.I. plant last year,” he said.
Canadian potato production is up overall in part because of the low exchange rate of Canadian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar, he added.
Source: CBC News