NPPGA planning promotions for Red River Valley potatoes
NPPGA planning promotions for Red River Valley potatoes
The upcoming marketing program planned by the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association in East Grand Forks, MN, is quite diverse, according to Ted Kreis, the marketing director for the group.
The association is revising its web site, nppga.org, which will also have a direct link to its marketing web page, redpotatoes.net. With operations beginning this fall, the site will include a marketing page.
This November, the NPPGA will have a booth at the Produce Marketing Association exposition in Atlanta, and the theme of the PMA booth will be Make Red River Valley Reds the Star of Your Potato Category. Supporting this will be handout material with category management information on how to incorporate red potatoes to make retail produce departments more profitable.
"We have more print advertising than in the past with national publications like The Produce News," Mr. Kreis said. This is made possible in part because the association is combining resources with individual shippers to run cooperative advertising.
The NPPGA is also promoting at three regional shows this fall and winter, including the North Dakota Grocers Association convention in January.
In another promotion, the association had a Mr. Potato Head giveaway at a minor league baseball game.
Mr. Kreis said that Red River Valley red potato growers enjoy national distribution, but sales are heavily oriented to the East, Midwest and South. The Northwest dominates the potato markets on the West Coast, he said.
This year, It will be a little different marketing situation than last year, when we had a record crop and low prices. This year we have a smaller crop and high prices, Mr. Kreis said.
Everyone is happy with higher prices, but there are new challenges in moving the product. We're selling less volume at higher profit margins. It is a nice problem for growers with potatoes.
But, he said, June flooding inflicted irregular damage to the growers. Now, one grower will have a tremendous crop, and down the way, another grower will be flooded out. Thats typical of farming in general.
After the flood, some growers replanted, and when Mr. Kreis spoke to The Produce News Oct. 3, he expected that the Red River Valley potato harvest would not be completed until the last week of October.
With the replanting, some potatoes this summer were not planted until the second week of July, which was six weeks after the first plantings.
Because the late-planted spuds had warm growing weather, they grew quickly and tended to catch up with older plantings, with harvest coming just three or four weeks later.
The Red River Valley potatoes that are harvested early are immediately washed, packed and shipped, but the vast majority is shipped out of storage. The 2004 Red River Valley potato crop was beiing shipped until June 2005. Depending on crop and market conditions, Red River Valley shipping can end anywhere between April and July.
Over 90 percent of the Red River Valley tablestock production is in red potatoes, according to Mr. Kreis. The remaining 10 percent of table stock are Russets and Yukon Golds. Of all the potatoes we raise in the Red River Valley, only 20 percent are for the fresh potato market. He reiterated that of that 20 percent, 90 percent are reds. Further clarifying, he said that of the total potatoes produced in the Red River Valley, 80 percent is produced for the processing and chip markets. Chips are a small part of the total. Mainly its frozen.
Processing markets dominate the potato business throughout North Dakota as well as the Red River Valley, Mr. Kreis added, and the Red River Valley potato acreage is stable from year to year.
In June, heavy rains delayed or drowned planted acreage. As a result, the production in the valley will be down about 25-30 percent from 2004, when 5 million cwt. of fresh potatoes were grown.
The years of greatest Red River Valley production were the 1960s, which, for the potato industry, was the heyday all over the country when a lot more meals were prepared at home.
Families were also larger at that time, he added. Those demographic changes were a major influence on the national potato industry, which, he noted, has gained processing sales.
On the positive side, red potatoes are holding their own, gaining in market share. Thats been a slow trend over the last several years, he said.
While red potatoes are grown throughout the country, the largest red potato-producing area is the Red River Valley, Mr. Kreis said. There, the primary red varities are Red Norland and Dark Red Norland.
They are basically the same potatoes with one simply darker than the other is, he said.
The association is revising its web site, nppga.org, which will also have a direct link to its marketing web page, redpotatoes.net. With operations beginning this fall, the site will include a marketing page.
This November, the NPPGA will have a booth at the Produce Marketing Association exposition in Atlanta, and the theme of the PMA booth will be Make Red River Valley Reds the Star of Your Potato Category. Supporting this will be handout material with category management information on how to incorporate red potatoes to make retail produce departments more profitable.
"We have more print advertising than in the past with national publications like The Produce News," Mr. Kreis said. This is made possible in part because the association is combining resources with individual shippers to run cooperative advertising.
The NPPGA is also promoting at three regional shows this fall and winter, including the North Dakota Grocers Association convention in January.
In another promotion, the association had a Mr. Potato Head giveaway at a minor league baseball game.
Mr. Kreis said that Red River Valley red potato growers enjoy national distribution, but sales are heavily oriented to the East, Midwest and South. The Northwest dominates the potato markets on the West Coast, he said.
This year, It will be a little different marketing situation than last year, when we had a record crop and low prices. This year we have a smaller crop and high prices, Mr. Kreis said.
Everyone is happy with higher prices, but there are new challenges in moving the product. We're selling less volume at higher profit margins. It is a nice problem for growers with potatoes.
But, he said, June flooding inflicted irregular damage to the growers. Now, one grower will have a tremendous crop, and down the way, another grower will be flooded out. Thats typical of farming in general.
After the flood, some growers replanted, and when Mr. Kreis spoke to The Produce News Oct. 3, he expected that the Red River Valley potato harvest would not be completed until the last week of October.
With the replanting, some potatoes this summer were not planted until the second week of July, which was six weeks after the first plantings.
Because the late-planted spuds had warm growing weather, they grew quickly and tended to catch up with older plantings, with harvest coming just three or four weeks later.
The Red River Valley potatoes that are harvested early are immediately washed, packed and shipped, but the vast majority is shipped out of storage. The 2004 Red River Valley potato crop was beiing shipped until June 2005. Depending on crop and market conditions, Red River Valley shipping can end anywhere between April and July.
Over 90 percent of the Red River Valley tablestock production is in red potatoes, according to Mr. Kreis. The remaining 10 percent of table stock are Russets and Yukon Golds. Of all the potatoes we raise in the Red River Valley, only 20 percent are for the fresh potato market. He reiterated that of that 20 percent, 90 percent are reds. Further clarifying, he said that of the total potatoes produced in the Red River Valley, 80 percent is produced for the processing and chip markets. Chips are a small part of the total. Mainly its frozen.
Processing markets dominate the potato business throughout North Dakota as well as the Red River Valley, Mr. Kreis added, and the Red River Valley potato acreage is stable from year to year.
In June, heavy rains delayed or drowned planted acreage. As a result, the production in the valley will be down about 25-30 percent from 2004, when 5 million cwt. of fresh potatoes were grown.
The years of greatest Red River Valley production were the 1960s, which, for the potato industry, was the heyday all over the country when a lot more meals were prepared at home.
Families were also larger at that time, he added. Those demographic changes were a major influence on the national potato industry, which, he noted, has gained processing sales.
On the positive side, red potatoes are holding their own, gaining in market share. Thats been a slow trend over the last several years, he said.
While red potatoes are grown throughout the country, the largest red potato-producing area is the Red River Valley, Mr. Kreis said. There, the primary red varities are Red Norland and Dark Red Norland.
They are basically the same potatoes with one simply darker than the other is, he said.
