Organic russets feeling potato supply squeeze
The 2022-23 storage crop of all potatoes is down as much as 5% from the previous year, a shortage being most acutely felt in the organic russet potato sector.
Packers are limiting shipments to stretch supplies, with one producer telling Organic Produce Network (OPN) that the company is urging retailers not to promote organic potatoes.
Several factors, including less acreage and lower yields, are behind the shortage. With a new potato crop not due until spring, Rob Greenwood, program development manager for RPE Inc. in Bancroft, Wisconsin, is expecting a gap on organic russets.
“From late April or early May to at least mid-June, we are going to be searching for potatoes,” he told OPN in late February.
Conventional potatoes are also facing shortages but have a larger pool of available supply, Greenwood said.
The 2022 crop marked the first time annual potato production dropped for five consecutive years, according to the report.
A December 2022 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that U.S. potato production declined 3% in 2022 from the previous year. U.S. growers planted 910,000 acres in 2022, 33,000 fewer than in 2021.
The 2022 crop marked the first time annual potato production dropped for five consecutive years, according to the report.
Lonnie Gillespie, chief organic officer at Farm Fresh Direct of America in Monte Vista, Colorado, described to OPN an “unprecedented shortage of organic russets” at the company and nationwide. “Organic yellows and reds are not packing out with the quality we want to see, but there are enough supplies to get us through the season,” she said. ”What we are trying to do is work out deals to get (organic) yellows and reds at a price point that gives retailers something to sell and gives consumers some potatoes to buy at a reasonable price.”
Gillespie said Farm Fresh will begin planting for the 2023 season in April. “We have replaced our lost acreage, and we are hoping Mother Nature is kinder this year and we get better yields,” she said.
Eric Beck, director of marketing for Wada Farms Marketing Group in Idaho Falls, Idaho, said both organic and conventional crops reached historic acreage lows in 2022.
Organic potato supplies are getting tighter, Beck said, and predicted shortages by mid-April.
New supply from California and other regions is expected in April/May to help ease the situation through summer.
