Manitoba (23%) led the country in potato production this year, followed by Alberta (22.5%) and PEI (20.1%).
Dan Sawatzky is manager of Keystone Potato Producers Association (KPPA).
"We had anticipated that happening with the expansion here. In the immediate future, if we can get our yields back up, it looks like that will be the norm going forward at least in the foreseeable future."
Manitoba potato yields came in at 337.1 hundredweight per acre. Alberta had the highest average yield at 404 hundredwieght per acre.
Sawatzky says demand for Manitoba potatoes remains solid.
"It took a dip during COVID and there were some adjustments made from processors to try and trim back the production this year. Manitoba actually fared fairly well with the expansion of the Simplot plant here. They wanted to keep that plant running as full as possible. So we didn't see the downturn in acreage or volume here as other areas did."
He notes Manitoba's potato acreage actually went up a bit from about 70,000 to 71,500. The number was down from what the pre-COVID numbers were looking like.
Statistics Canada reports nationally seeded area declined 1.4% from 2019 to 357,085 acres in 2020.
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