Wisconsin harvested potato acreage will be down 5 percent for 2021, according to USDA estimates.
USDA estimates Wisconsin growers will harvest from 66,000 acres this year, the lowest number since 2014, when harvested acreage was 64,000.
Wisconsin accounts for 7 percent of total fall potato acreage in 2021, compared with 7.6 percent in 2020, according to the USDA.
Shipments
Wisconsin fresh potato truck shipments in the calendar year 2020 totaled 652.3 million pounds, according to the USDA. That was up 24 percent from 2019 and up 6.4 percent compared with 2018.
Wisconsin organic fresh potato shipments in 2020 totaled 4.5 million pounds, up nearly double from 2.5 million pounds in 2019 and 2.8 million pounds in 2018.
The biggest month for Wisconsin fresh potato shipments in 2020 was November, when 12.6 percent of total annual shipments were moved. That was followed by October with 11.6 percent and September with 10.9 percent.
In 2020, July was the lightest month for shipments, with just 4.7 percent of annual volume moving then. Other lighter months were June, with 5.5 percent of annual shipments, and February, with 6 percent of annual shipments.
By type of potato grown, the USDA reports 2021 acreage is 7 percent red/blue, 48 percent russets, 40 percent white and 5 percent yellow.
That compares with 2020 numbers of 9 percent red/blue, 46 percent russet, 39 percent white and 6 percent yellow.
