POTATO SHORTAGE

Wow, maybe potatoes will be worth more than gravel someday.....Daniher, are you taking notes in your little book???  Seth, are you out there?

Global potato shortage may hike prices

Farm Credit Canada says there is a global shortage of potatoes, exports of Prince Edward Island’s 85,500-acre crop have risen dramatically, while elsewhere crop acreage across North America has declined. It hasn’t predicted what all that is likely to do to consumer prices, but quotes general manager Greg Donald of the P.E.I. potato board as saying, “we’re very concerned with getting the best price for growers.” While the crop news might be good for producers and not so good for consumers of table potatoes and various potatobased products such as chips, it might be a temporary situation. The spike in exports to Holland is being attributed to heavy rains and in Russia to a drought last year. This accounted for a 90 per cent increase in overseas sales, according to FCC. Meantime, exports to the U.S. increased by about 10 per cent.
Exports to the Caribbean appear to have held steady. Closer to home, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) in its latest available statistics, estimated in February 2009 that there were 5,430 acres of potatoes in Dufferin. Production was cited as 15,200 pounds per acre. For comparison, Simcoe County had 13,260 acres, and a yield of 14,300 pounds per acre. In all of Ontario, total potato acreage estimated was 15,000 hectares or 37,000 acres. Canada as a whole had 153,100 HA or 378,400 acres of potato land, according to Statistics Canada. By comparison, the state of Idaho grew 129,500 HA or 320,000 acres of potatoes. Europe, excluding Russia, had 504,800 HA or 1,25-million acres. No information was found for Russia, nor do immediately available statistics indicate the yield per acre.
Source: citizen.on.ca
Publication date: 2/25/2011