Potato Harvest Wrapping Up

Sep 30, 2020

Manitoba's potato harvest is nearly complete.

Dan Sawatzky is manager of Keystone Potato Producers Association.

"Harvest conditions have been excellent this year," he said. "Many growers probably finished in record time. There's still a few potatoes left but I would say we're probably close to 95 per cent complete."

Sawatzky says yields are down a bit this year.

"Yields are off a little bit. We had a bit later start and some heat during when potatoes were setting. We lost some of the sets and then also later on, third week of August we had some heat as well and potatoes just don't do very well when it's too hot. They shut down and consequently we are a little bit down in yield."

He notes the quality of the potato crop is looking good, noting the size of the potatoes is better than expected. Sawatzky says most of the processing producers have irrigation, adding storability should also be good. The early September frost did impact some of the plants, and prevented some extra yield that might have occurred during that time.

There were no reported cases of late blight in Manitoba.

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