“For some reason, we don’t have a huge supply of potatoes in this particular province and the market is a bit slow to realize that,’’ said Kevin MacIsaac, general manager of the United Potato Growers of Canada, an umbrella organization which collects and studies data for a number of potato boards across Canada.
Not only does PEI not have sufficient inventory to satisfy the national and international markets, it is getting rid of them far too quickly.
Growers were told that movement of potatoes off the province is up from last year.
And there is talk of PEI needing to bring in enough spuds to fill the orders.
PEI is producing about 85,000 acres of potatoes these days but only 700 acres are needed for Island businesses and residents.
Ray Keenan, chair of the United Potato Growers, said balancing supply and demand is always a challenge.
“It’s a lot about what this agenda is about today. This year, supplies are down about 30 per cent on PEI from last year,’’ Keenan said. “On top of that, our shipments are ahead about eight per cent from last year so we’re moving potatoes at quite a rapid rate.’’
MacIsaac said 30 per cent “is a very, very significant number’’, especially on the fresh potato side.
“This is significant information,’’ says Gary Linkletter, chairman of the PEI Potato Board. “Growers need to be aware of the numbers when they are making decisions on the price they should set for their crop. We need to adjust our shipments and prices to ensure we can supply our regular customers throughout the season.’’
But, everyone is feeling squeezed. One grower from Manitoba told The Guardian they are falling very short and will be importing spuds in from potato-rich Idaho.
“Idaho had near normal yields at the tail end but we (Manitoba) were short last year so we went into this year needing to produce about 53 weeks of potatoes,’’ said Garry Sloik, manager of Keystone Potato Producers, a processor growing organization in Manitoba.
“Some (stocks) are coming from Idaho into Manitoba to be processed to make up for the shortfall.’’
There is a high demand for potatoes, especially in the United States. By all accounts, PEI had what many growers term to be an average growing year in 2011. That means some customers who ordered potatoes from PEI won’t be getting them.
“What we do know now on PEI is that we do not have enough potatoes today to reach all of the customers at the end of the season so some customers will be short. We know that,’’ MacIsaac said.
Growers were also told PEI exports are down about 35 per cent due to the situation in Russia and Europe, although it should be noted that exports were above normal last year. One of the reasons for the decrease — Belgium and New Zealand had good crop years.
Meetings were held recently in the U.S. to discuss the North American supply shortage but the message coming out of those meetings is that jurisdictions like PEI should not respond by increasing acreage.
“The reality is if we were to return to a year where we have normal or above average growing conditions you really don’t have the ability to deal with extra acreage of potatoes so we would not recommend an increase unless there is a market that comes forward today and says we need ‘X’ volume of potatoes for our market to be achieved,’’ MacIsaac said.
“In other words, don’t overreact.’’
The Guardian
