News and Stories

Idaho potato stocks are dominated by small potatoes (80- through 100- count sizes); large stocks (40- through 70-count potatoes) are not as plentiful. Norkotah supplies will be depleted the week of May 16. At that stage, the Burbank variety will be shipped until new crop, field-run Norkotahs become available in late July. Prices are expected to remain relatively steady, with slight fluctuations, through the end of the 2015-2016 season (June-July).

White Russet storage stocks will be on the market through mid-August. Remaining supplies will be dominated by small potatoes (80- through 100- count sizes); large sizes (40- through 70-count potatoes) will not be as abundant. Prices are forecast to remain stable, with slight fluctuations, through the end of the season.

Storage Crop Quality

• Idaho experienced record-high temperatures this past summer as well as sudden shifts to freezing weather; these factors will contribute to inconsistent size and sporadic quality issues as the storage season progresses
• Pressure bruising (soft indentations) is a result of pressure at points of contact with adjacent potatoes or the floor while potatoes sit in storage sheds
• Hollow heart (small, irregularly shaped craters) develops during harvesting when potatoes grow faster than normal due to adverse weather; the defect is internal and can normally be detected at the production level by x-ray machines
• Occasional pressure bruising will be seen in the White Russet variety, however internal black spots will be dramatically less than in the Burbank and Norkotah varieties due to their genetic makeup 
• Markon will continue to gather weekly quality reports and update members on a regular basis
  

2016 New Crop

• Potato planting for the 2016 storage crop season is still underway and will be completed over the next few weeks
• New crop harvesting of fresh-run potato shipments will begin in late July
• Storage crop harvests will start in early September and 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.