By Tamara Botting
It was a record crop for potatoes this year in Canada.
That was one of the main highlights Victoria Stamper, general manager of the United Potato Growers of Canada, brought to the 2025 Canadian Potato Summit. The virtual event was held in January, and presented by Potatoes in Canada.
She noted that when looking at the numbers over time – from 2003 to 2024 – “Although our planted acres haven’t reached the peak we had back in 2003 of over 457,000 acres, we can see that production actually has surpassed back then, with the assistance of steadily increasing yields.”
This crop season, there were just over 391,000 acres planted. Of those, 383,666 acres were harvested, and the overall production for the country was just under 127 million hundredweight (cwt).
The total sales value of the potato crop was over $2 billion in 2023/24.
“So, a pretty good crop in 2024,” Stamper noted.
The most recent survey – which dates back to 2021 – showed 951 potato farms across Canada.
The largest potato growing provinces in acres were Prince Edward Island (85,300), Manitoba (78,600) and Alberta (76,500).
Stamper noted that PEI, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario all had a marked improvements in their harvested acreage. The lowest was PEI, which was up 2.5 per cent, and the highest was Quebec, up 6.6 per cent.
For context, she noted that this represents “not only what was pulled out of the ground, but also what is marketable from storage.”
Production in Eastern Canada was up, “mainly due to much better weather conditions” than last year, Stamper said.
Weather always plays a big role agriculture, and this year was no different.
For planted acres, Stamper said there were some regional differences across Canada.
“Most started with an early spring; planting went very, very well. The crop was moving along right until July – some saying (it was) the best crop they had seen, and then … Mother Nature pulled the rug out from under us. August went very, very dry for many; Ontario actually had some June rains that kind of switched things up for them. In general, we can see that impacted in the yields; most regions are either stable or down.”
As for the harvest, “Although most of North America in general experienced some unseasonably warm temperatures in September and October – causing harvest to slow for some, with partial dig days at the beginning – overall, the growers I spoke with were happy with how the harvest went, considering; especially compared to last year,” Stamper said. “Conditions were drier, which may have caused some issues in certain areas, depending on the soil type, but much preferred – I think – to the solid rains of 2023.”
Another major influence on the Canadian potato market is the one located south of the border.
Stamper said the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated that production there is down about 22 million cwt – or 5.1 per cent from the previous year – with 38,000 fewer acres planted or harvested.
Over half of that difference was in Washington and Idaho alone.
Noting that Idaho produces around 135 million cwt of potatoes all on its own – and again, all of Canada doesn’t quite produce 127 million cwt – Stamper said, “They are definitely a force to be reckoned with.”
That’s not in any way to suggest that Canada’s potato crop is insignificant.
“We not only have more potatoes in the bin that we got out of the ground, but we also have more marketable crop. The issues of hollow heart and rot that we were seeing in the northeast, including New Brunswick, Quebec and some even in PEI, are just really not present this year, and we believe that the pack out rates definitely are improving,” Stamper said.
There is a bit of a wait and see happening, since the region experienced unseasonably warm temperatures through harvest, and it’s not yet known how that will impact the long-term storage, “particularly on yellows, which can be subject to some issues in storage,” Stamper said.
One of the essential foundations of the potato market is there being a balance between the fresh and processing sector (where potatoes are made into products like French fries and chips).
“We are monitoring potatoes from the processing sector, that they don’t fall into the fresh market … we do keep an eye on that,” Stamper said.
“The global demand for French fries … continues, but at a lower rate than previously forecast. We were originally around 3 to 5 per cent per growth forecast in the last couple of years, and that’s maybe slowed down to 1 per cent.”
Currently, Canada as a whole continues to have a good potato seed industry, with 58,525 seed acres certified across the country in 2024.
However, Stamper said, “There are concerns that fewer acres under contract for the processing (sector) may impact the planting intentions in 2025; something for the seed sector to think about.”
She added that for producers in the seed sector, “they have the same production cost as in the other sectors, but even higher risk. (It’s) something we need to work on and make sure we’re keeping on track with in our seed sector and supporting them.”
Trying to look ahead, the numbers show that there is still a demand for potatoes, in the fresh and processed sectors. Around 85 per cent of households buy potatoes, and quick service restaurants continue to expand.
Also, “The chip market is quite active, particularly in private labels, where consumers are still looking to spend their dollar the best way they can,” Stamper said.
Potential challenges on the horizon for the market include the possibility of strikes with workers in the distribution portion of the supply chain, crop application availability and cost, erratic weather, and seed availability.
One of the largest unknowns as of the potato summit (and print deadline) was whether the tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States as proposed by US President Donald Trump would be implemented, and if so, what impact they would have.
“Our associations in Canada are definitely lobbying and making sure that people are aware tariffs are not good for people on either side of the border,” Stamper said.
Despite the challenges the potato growing sector faces, “The most important factor, really, is for us to come together as an industry and face these challenges together, rather than divided; it’s just more productive for us long-term.”
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