We have had a busy few months at the PEI Potato Board as we experienced what we like to call ‘meeting season’.
We had some very timely information sessions with presenters from across Canada and Great Britain for all Island growers put on by our AIM research group. Meetings focused on decreasing fertilizer use, new technologies for increased farm efficiency, and environmental impacts for reduced tillage practices. We had a great participation rate in these sessions across the Island.
Our seed industry is alive and well and our post-harvest virus testing has been extremely positive, with most of the crop tested and an over 92 per cent pass rate as of now. While we anticipate having enough seed for the crop this year, things will be much tighter than past years and growers may need to be flexible in the varieties they are looking for.
Like other provinces as well as our U.S. counterparts, processing negotiations are going to look quite different than the past few years. The processing committee is working hard to stay on top of the North American negotiations already underway and be prepared to accept a fair contract settlement on PEI. The table market is down slightly over last year, in price and volume, which is not surprising as it was a historic year and there were significant crop increases across western North America. Overall, we are trending above average in the fresh market and if we maintain current movement, we will have few issues moving the 2023 crop.
We hosted a very successful International Potato Technology Expo here in PEI on Feb. 22 & 23, 2024. Event organizers stated that over 3,100 people came through the doors which is the largest ever attendance, making us the premier North American potato expo. The bi-annual event will occur again in 2026 and I encourage everyone to join us in PEI.
Wishing all fellow potato growers a great upcoming planting season – may the weather be on our side!
Statistics Canada 2023 – Area, production and farm value of potatoes (PEI)
Seeded area, potatoes – 84,500 acres
Harvested area, potatoes – 83,000
Average yield, potatoes – 3311 Hundredweight per harvested acres
Production, potatoes (x 1,000) -25,813
