Nov 11, 2020Wisconsin potato production stable, while Michigan yield drop leads to smaller crop
Potato production in Wisconsin is projected to be on par with last year, while reduced yields in Michigan are expected to lead to a smaller crop there.
Marlo Johnson, director of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Great Lakes Regional Office, announced Nov. 10 that Wisconsin’s crop is expected to produce 28.3 million hundredweight (cwt), a drop of 1% from 2019. Yield average in Wisconsin is projected at 410 cwt per acre, the same as last year. Wisconsin growers planted 69,000 acres, down 1,000 from a year ago.
In Michigan, acreage planted was 47,000 acres, down 1,000 from 2019, but yields dropped from an average of 420 cwt per acre in 2019 to 370 cwt per acre this year. The end result is an estimate of 17.4 million cwt.
Nationally, production of U.S. fall potatoes is forecast at 415.5 million cwt, down 2% from 2019. Harvested acres are 915,700, also down 2% from last year. The average yield for 2020 is 454 cwt per acres, almost identical to 2019.
