A wet, cool start to spring in Accomack County, VA, delayed potato planting at Dublin Farms about a week, but the crop has since caught up because of a warm April.

“We finished up planting at the end of March, and then it just stopped raining,” said Mark Hickman, operations manager and sales for Horntown, VA-based Dublin Farms. “We went probably two solid months without a measurable rain.”

Late May rain across the county has helped, and like many Eastern Shore crops, Dublin Farms’ potatoes are irrigated. But relying on irrigation is not ideal, and Accomack County recorded its second-driest April in the past 132 years, and the sixth overall driest four-month start to the year on record, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System (drought.gov).

Hickman said the crop is sizing up well, and he’s optimistic about the season.

“Right now, a lot of customers are calling and wanting to know when we’ll start,” he said in late May. “That’s always promising that they’re calling and wanting to know when we’re going to start, what we’re going to have.”

Dublin Farms grows red, yellow and white potatoes, and Hickman said the trend in fewer acres of whites is now happening to reds.

“The yellows are just taking over everything. Whites are still 10 percent of our acreage, and the yellows are now about 55 percent of our acreage, and the other 35 percent is in reds,” he said. “It’s just what people want. When they go to the store, they’re buying yellows, and you know, probably for the last 15 years, we’ve been saying this yellow popularity is going to die out.”

The opposite is happening: Hickman said in the last year, he’s seen the yellow market overtaking red potatoes.

“The red market still is pretty weak. I talk to folks that are growing in Florida, and they say there’s just not much strength to it,” he said. “People just aren’t beating down the door for reds.”

Dublin Farms plans to start harvest in late June, which is the typical time frame. The company should be shipping the fresh crop by June 25-29, Hickman said. Harvest wraps up by the second week of August. The Eastern Shore potato crop is shipped fresh, not stored.

Dublin Farms ships throughout the East Coast, mostly from Toronto to Miami. Potatoes are packed in 50-pound cartons and bags, 2,000-pound totes for repackers, and consumer bags (including 3-, 4-, 5- and 10-pounds) for retail. Potatoes packed under the Dublin Farms label supplies the Virginia Walmart distribution center for the month of July, Hickman said. The company also packs in private label bags for retailers.

“If somebody wants to send us a bag, we’ll pack in it, whatever label they want to supply us with,” he said.

Dublin Farms is kicking off this season with a new 26,000-square-foot facility and is grading and sorting the crop on two newly installed Newtec Celox optical sorters. The culmination of a three-year project, the new construction is attached to the former packing facility, which has been converted to storage. The sales office is in the new building as well.

“You know, something you worked on this long, you’re always excited to see it finally come to fruition and see everything working, so we’re really excited to see it going,” Hickman said.