Potato Farmers Running Irrigation Early

Jul 08, 2020

The hot temperatures are causing issues for Manitoba's potato growers.

Vikram Bisht with Manitoba Agriculture says some of the crop is starting to sprout, which is not a good thing.

He adds irrigation is needed in many areas.

"Most cases the soil moisture or the rainfall has been significantly below normal. In the potato growing areas we have anywhere from 35% of normal to about 60/70% of the normal rainfall which means the growers have had to run the irrigation systems much earlier than normal."

Bisht says the risk for late blight is currently low.

He estimates Manitoba potato acres will be close to last year, somewhere in the range of 70,000 acres, adding demand for french fries is starting to pick-up with the economy re-opening.

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