Spud damage

[checking]

It appears that the six weeks of frost, snow melt, cold did major damage to the potato crop.
20% frozen. Lot of sorting before putting into storage, maybe a lot of discounts even if sorted as could be misses.
I thought about digging my few hundred hills in the garden, and I had them dirt heaped higher than ever by end of August, but only dug them a few days ago. 10% damaged. Big spuds, well overstocked, even with the frozen discount.
It has got to be tough being a Manitoba potato grower.

[chuckChuck]

Store bought potatoes are often not very good quality and taste crappy. We are about to harvest our small plot today. Hopefully the losses are not to high.

[grassfarmer]

A lot of the Manitoba spuds were already lifted in this area before the bad weather. We didn't have nearly as much frost and snow as other areas so not sure how badly the growers here will be affected.

[chuckChuck]

Potatoes

Potatoes, likewise, have suffered a blow.

Dan Sawatzky, manager of the Keystone Potato Producers Association, says there is a good chance Manitoba will fall short of its contract amounts after damaging frosts froze some fields beyond salvaging.

“There will be abandoned acres this year, something that has been very uncommon in the province over the last number of years,” he said.

It’s a potentially huge financial impact for those farmers, he added, even for those who have insurance.

Potato fields largely weathered their first major frost Sep. 29, Sawatzky said, but the same could not be said for the next two weeks of cold. An estimated 30 per cent of potatoes were still in the field when temperatures dipped to almost -11 C Oct. 11.

“Every area did get damage,” he said. “I think the challenge after that, after the Oct. 11 event, was to determine if the crop was salvageable, whether it would store or not.”

Sawatzky says it will be difficult to gauge the contract shortfall until farmers see how much of their remaining crops store successfully.

Some producers are attempting to manage the frozen potatoes in storage, he said, piling tubers lower in the hopes that dry down will occur. Others have opted against further harvest attempts.

[checking]

Informative clip. Ty cc.

My info was from an attendee Mb grower who was at a fall auction in Brandon. He figured the plant would discount him heavily. Said his were ready to lift when all weather hell beat him to the task.

It is not a nice sight having oozing spuds sweating up the neighbours. Parallel's on AV. LOL