Sep 12, 2024Report: US growers to produce 428.8 million cwt of potatoes this year
U.S. growers expect to produce 428.8 million cwt of potatoes during 2024, according to a North American Potato Market News forecast based on crop conditions in early September.
The forecast falls 11.95 cwt, or 2.7%, short of USDA’s current estimate for the 2023 crop. NAPMN expects Michigan growers to harvest 52,000 acres of potatoes this year, which is 2,500 acres more than last year’s harvested area.
The current estimate for the statewide average yield is 425 cwt per acre. The net result is a 22.1 million cwt potato crop. That is 567,000 cwt more than the current estimate for the 2023 crop, a 2.6% increase.
USDA will issue revised final data for the 2023 crop on Sept. 26.
Potato chip sales are experiencing their usual post-Labor Day slump, according to NAPMN. Yields and quality appear to be average to slightly above average for Michigan’s chip potato crop.
U.S. packers shipped 1.613 million cwt of table potatoes during the holiday-shortened week ending Sept. 7, up from 1.263 million cwt shipped a year earlier. Michigan packers shipped 30,700 cwt of potatoes during the week ending Sept. 7, up from 9,044 cwt shipped during the same week in 2023.
Last week’s Michigan shipments were 100% russets.
