Oct 4, 2024Michigan harvest slowed by warm temperatures, but reports are positive
Above-average temperatures have slowed Michigan’s potato harvest, according to the latest North American Potato Market News report, though reports indicate quality is good and yields are above average.
Effects of Hurricane Helene could limit both table and chip potato shipments to parts of the East Coast, according to the report.
The USDA has revised 2023 potato production data for 12 of the 13 reporting states, including Michigan. Production exceeded the January estimate in five states and declined in seven. The U.S. 2023 potato crop is now estimated at 440.13 million cwt, 618,000 cwt less than the previous estimate and 38.08 million cwt larger than the 2022 crop.
Michigan growers harvested 49,000 acres of potatoes in 2023, according to the USDA, which is 500 acres less than the January estimate. The state’s 2023 yield estimate was revised upward by 5 cwt per acre, to a record 440 cwt per acre.
The changes increased the 2023 crop estimate by 27,000 cwt. Michigan’s 2023 potato crop exceeded 2022 production by 602,000 cwt, or 2.9%, though the state’s combined shipments of table and chip potatoes from the 2023 crop fell 2.5% short of year-earlier movement.
U.S. packers shipped 1.714 million cwt of table potatoes during the week ending Sept. 28. That is up from 1.485 million cwt shipped a year earlier. Michigan packers shipped 34,036 cwt of potatoes during the week ending Sept. 28, an increase from 23,200 cwt shipped during the same week in 2023.
