News and Stories

Large Idaho Burbank and Norkotah potatoes (40- through 70-count supplies) continue to be limited. Cool temperatures and rain received during August hindered growth, preventing stocks from reaching full size potential. Small sizes (80- through 100-count potatoes) dominate storage stocks. Growers have alerted the industry repeatedly that large-size supplies will be very limited during the last few months of the storage crop season (June and July).     

Prices for all sizes are projected to remain relatively steady, with slight fluctuations, through the month of May. Expect to see a wide price gap between the large and small potatoes for the remainder of the storage crop season. Prices for large sizes will increase even more during the last few months of the storage crop season due to the anticipated supply shortage.  

Norkotah supplies will be available through the end of April in Eastern Idaho. Western Idaho will have Norkotah supplies through mid-April/May. When Norkotah supplies are depleted, Burbanks will be used to fill all orders through the end of that season.   

Storage Crop Quality

• No major issues or concerns have been reported, however as the year progresses and the potatoes continue to sit in storage sheds, some defects may become evident
• Pressure and/or shoulder bruising (soft, external indents) are the results of pressure at points of contact with adjacent potatoes or the floor, while potatoes sit in storage sheds
• Hollow heart (small, irregularly shaped internal craters) develop during harvest when potatoes grow faster than normal due to adverse weather; this defect can be detected at the production level by x-ray scanners that determine which potatoes meet No. 1 grade specifications

2015 New Crop

• Potato planting for the 2015 storage crop season will begin in April
• Idaho has experienced a mild winter; spring weather has come much earlier than normal
• Typically growers begin to plant in mid-April, but some may start a few weeks earlier due to the warmer weather
• New crop harvesting of fresh-run potato shipments will begin in late July
• The storage crop harvest will start in early September and will continue through most of October; suppliers will begin to ship out of storage in early October

Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.

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