Potato Outlook 2023 Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. This year’s crop of Washington potatoes is looking pretty good so far, thanks to cooperation from the weather.
Washington Potato Commission Executive Director, Chris Voigt says, yeah, the crop is looking about average, but that’s a good thing …
VOIGT … “Yeah, I think we were all a little bit concerned, you know, with that chilly spring, but right after that, you know, we actually had almost ideal, perfect growing conditions for our potato crop. You know, they like warm, sunny days. They don’t really hot days, and they like it cooling down at night. And so, that was perfect weather we had in March and June for that.”
Voigt says the potatoes should be higher in both acres and production this year …
VOIGT … “You know, we haven’t seen the crazy heat that we’ve had for the last two years, you know, where we’re 110, 115 degrees. It’s nice to be able to avoid those days. So actually, we’re having some really nice growing weather.”
But overall, Voigt says, he’s optimistic …
VOIGT … “Yields are kind of average, I guess, across the board. You know, we’ve had some reports of, you know, folks think that maybe that cool spring kind of affected the tuber-set. And what I mean by tuber-set is how many tubers are actually underneath the plant.”
After the down pandemic years, Voigt says we’ll take it, being back to normal with high demand for Washington potatoes.
