Potato harvest wraps up

Except for a few “little jibs here and there” that some farmers deliberately left in the field to harvest later, the general manager of the P. E. I. Potato Board has declared this year’s P. E. I. potato harvest wrapped up.

Greg Donald said just about every grower finished up before heavy rain hit on Halloween night.

The common theme he’s heard this week is the good 2013 harvesting conditions allowed the majority of growers to finish digging five to seven days earlier than normal.

If anything, conditions might have been too dry in certain areas, resulting in some bruising because not enough dirt was going over the belts with the potatoes, but, “generally speaking, you couldn’t have asked for better conditions,” Donald said.

He estimates the entire 89,000 acres that were planted on P. E. I. this year will be harvested.

The general manager said acreage all over North America is down this year, possibly a result of overproduction last year, which drove prices down. This year, he said, the supply should be more in line with demand.

He said the industry is hopeful that will result in improved prices this year. He said there is certainly reason for optimism.

Although it is still early, Donald said movement to all markets has been encouraging so far this fall.