b'eyeNEW BRUNSWICK ALBERTAJean-Maurice Daigle, director of marketTerence Hochstein, executive director of the information for Potatoes New Brunswick Potato Growers of AlbertaThe 2020 growing season in New Brunswick was a challenging one to say the least. Drought conditions during the growing season resulted in yieldWith overall planted acres being down this year due to the uncertainty of the reductions ranging from 15 to 50 per cent with the provincial average yieldCOVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Alberta harvest turned out to be much better reductions being 30 per cent. As a result of this reduction in available volume,than most growers anticipated. For the first time in years there was no major processors have had to shift some pack plan to other factories and planweather delays, and the threat of an early winter was nowhere to been seen. systemic down time to stretch the available raw as much as possible to getOverall yields were higher than many growers expected considering the early to 2021 new crop. Packers imported product from other areas last fall to fillseason rain events and hailstorms in the south and the extreme wet conditions empty buildings and guarantee supply to run the full packing season. in the seed growing areas. Growers are confident with the storability of the storage crop and qualityThe crop appears to be storing in excellent condition with no major issues. issues in storage should be minimal with lower than usual piles and mildEarly season seed shipment appears to be up from previous years, with temperatures up to now.shipments to the southern United States steadily growing. The availability of Quality and payables at the processing plants are trending in line withseed for the upcoming year will once again be tight as demand for Alberta long-term averages and processors are happy with the quality of the 2020seed continues to grow and process growers are optimistic that they will crop. Packers are also running to meet demand and prices have been stagnantgain back some of the acres which were reduced this past season. The next with the uncertainty of COVID-19 and lockdowns due to outbreaks in certainfew months will have a great deal of influence as to what will transpire come areas.spring planting.Seed potatoes are showing excellent quality, very low virus levels and areLike most fall and winter conferences, the Annual Potato Growers of storing well with no issues. Alberta Potato Conference and Tradeshow was cancelled this past November, with the seed meeting and annual general meeting using a virtual platform to conduct the necessary business. We are all hoping this is a one-time event QUEBEC with plans already being made to host the 2021 event in Red Deer, Alta. on Nov 22-24.Sarah-Maude Larose, project officer for LesWinter so far has been all over the map. There have been some early Producteurs de pommes de terre du Qubec season extreme cold snaps, multiple major snow events and some plus dou-ble-digit temperature days mixed in, over the last few months. One thing is for Quebec potato growers have encountered major challenges throughout thesure, every day which passes at this time of year is one day closer to spring.2020 growing season. The province dealt with hot and dry conditions in theAs is customary each spring, process growers and their respective proces-early growing season followed by large rainfall events which delayed thesors are engaged in contract talks. The uncertainty of the COVID-19 situation harvest. Our current estimate is that 2,000 acres have been abandoned. Thewill play a great influence in this springs negotiations.current crop is storing well with some spotty issues mainly related to the potatoes harvested after the rainy weather set in and the early frost that many producers had to cope with.Despite these issues, Quebecs storage holdings on Dec. 1, are only slightly below our five-year running average, at three per cent less or 267,000 hundred weight down.Growers report good salesusage is running ahead of last year, with strong shipping pace for chips and fresh. Growers are looking forward to a positive marketing year, but the pressure on prices is strong even though we have a favourable supply-demand balance.Early indications on the seed side are that growers have fewer rejections from inspections. Supply is actually above our five-year average, at four per cent, but most of it has been spoken for.68 SPUDSMART.COM WINTER 2021'