Associated Potato Growers’ volume up
Associated Potato Growers’ volume up
It will be hard to move potato prices upward before “all the doors are shut” and the storage facilities of the Red River Valley are full, said Paul Dolan, the manager of Associated Potato Growers Inc., located in Grand Forks, ND.
On Sept. 17 he noted “the market is weak on ‘a’s’. The demand has been so-so. The ‘b’ deal has been good. But number-one a and two-a sizes have had poor prices since Aug. 1.”
In mid-September, Associated Potato Growers was “still marketing” storage potatoes from its plant in Long Prairie, MN. “Next week we will start washing in the Red River Valley.” The washed spuds are then ready to pack and ship.
Dolan said that the industry, will, of course, be striving to increase prices once the new crop is in storage. Mid-September prices were bringing low profits for growers.
“The crop is good. The quality overall looks good. Color and the size profile look good. We will have an adequate supply of b’s, he said.
“From what I’ve seen so far, we’re bringing a quality crop to market. The size profile looks good. We’ve had nice rains up north. We could use rain south of Grand Forks. We have not lost of lot of acres due to drown-out.”
He added, “We are a long ways from finishing” the harvest. There were a lot of unusually hot days in mid-September. Growers slowed their harvest schedule because warm potatoes going into storage can have a reduced shelf life. “This usually just delays things some. It will work itself out. It will get cooler and we will have full days to get the crop off.”