Food Professor Warns Of Possible Potato Shortage

Potato availability in 2020 may be impacted by the difficult harvest.

 

Statistics Canada is reporting that more than 360,000 acres of potatoes were planted this year, however more than 20,000 acres were not harvested. It's estimated that 13,000 of those acres are in Manitoba.

 

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Dalhousie University, notes raising the price of potatoes past a certain level may spook consumers.

 

"They may actually decide to keep prices as they are, and if so, because of this strong demand for potatoes in Canada for french fries, chips, whatever, this could actually become a problem for the market. So we could potentially run out of potatoes by March or April. For now, there's no reports of any shortages or anything like that but if demand actually remains strong, and prices remain somewhat low. That could be a problem."

 

He notes if that happens, we may start to see smaller serving sizes for items such as french fries at our favourite fast food restaurants.

 

"It's not unusual to see "shrink-flation" occur, when input costs increase," said Charlebois. "That's basically the nature of food packaging, food service. It's done in a subtle way, often consumers are asked to pay the same price but they get less in terms of quantities and this is the one strategy that a lot of people in the food service industry or even in food processing use in order to save some money or to offset increases upstream."

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.