Russet varieties dominate San Luis Valley production

This report provides the results of a special survey of potato growers in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, which was conducted to evaluate potato varieties planted for the 2021 crop.

The survey was conducted by the USDA/NASS Mountain Region Field Office with funding from the Colorado State University, San Luis Valley Research Center. Data was collected from potato growers by return mail or by telephone interviews with enumerators. The survey was not sampled to provide a direct expansion of seeded acreage by variety or a measure of the sampling error.

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  Row View of Norkotah 8s. Photo: San Acacio Seed

  Russet varieties accounted for 91.8 percent of the reported acres of all potatoes planted in the San Luis Valley for the 2021 crop, compared with 87.5 percent in 2020.

• Yellow Flesh varieties were planted on 4.8 percent of the total acreage, which was down from 5.3 percent in 2020.
• Red varieties represented 1.8 percent of the total, a decrease from 4.6 percent in 2020.
• The remaining 1.6 percent of the total was made up of White, Fingerlings, and Other varieties.

Russet Norkotah continued its ranking as the most popular variety among producers by being planted on 55.2 percent of the total potato acreage and accounted for 60.2 percent of all russet potatoes. Norkotah Selection 296 is the most popular, accounting for 27.3 percent of the total acres planted. Norkotah 278 claimed 8.8 percent of the acreage; Norkotah Selection 8 accounted for 7.2 percent of the planted acres. Norkotah Selection 3 had 7.1 percent of the planted acres. The Canela Russet ranked first among non-Norkotah russet varieties in 2021 by being planted on 12.3 percent of the total acreage and representing 13.4 percent of all russet varieties. The Reveille Russet was the second most popular non-Norkotah russet variety, at 6.4 percent of the total acreage and 7.0 percent of all russet potatoes. Centennial Russet planted acreage accounted for 5.0 percent of planted acreage. Tetons Russet planted acreage accounted for 4.8 percent of planted acreage, while Mesa Russet accounted for 2.6 percent of acreage. All Other Russet varieties, which includes Mercury, Nugget, Rocky Mountain, and others, were planted on 3.6 percent of the total acreage in the San Luis Valley.

Red varieties accounted for 1.8 percent of the planted acreage in 2021. No variety or type received enough reports to publish separately. All other Red varieties includes reports of Chieftain, Ciklamen, Modoc, Sangre and others.

Yellow varieties accounted for 4.8 percent of the planted acreage in 2021. Soraya was the most planted accounting for 1.2 percent of the total acreage and represented 26.0 percent of all yellow flesh varieties. Yukon Gold was planted on 1.1 percent of the total acreage and represented 22.2 percent of all yellow flesh varieties and Alegria accounted for 1.0 percent of the total acreage. Other Yellow Flesh varieties totaled 1.5 percent of all potatoes planted.

Total White, Fingerlings and Other varieties, including research varieties and other specialty type potatoes, comprised the remaining 1.6 percent of the total potato acreage. No particular variety or type received enough reports to publish separately.

— USDA-NASS