Potato growers are reporting great fall harvests this year as they gear up for what appears will be a strong holiday sales period.
“Right now is the Super Bowl of potato movement,” Eric Beck, marketing director for Idaho Falls, Idaho-based Wada Farms Marketing Group, said in late October. “We’ll be shipping a lot of potatoes over the next six weeks.”
He described quality as “top notch.”
“We’re going to have a good profile across the spectrum for foodservice and retail needs,” he said.
Besides conventional varieties, Wada Farms offers russet, red, yellow and some purple organic potatoes.
“There is definitely a consumer market for organic potatoes,” Beck said. “We continue to grow year over year.”
The organic program runs from July through April.
Idaho Falls-based Eagle Eye Produce also experienced an exceptional harvest.
“It was one of the best harvests we’ve ever had in terms of Mother Nature cooperating,” said Coleman Oswald, director of sales. “We didn’t have a whole lot of rain or other issues.”
Favorable growing conditions should result in “a better packout, better quality and better consistency throughout the season,” he added.
The crop was “outstanding” at Rexburg, Idaho-based Wilcox Fresh, said Derek Peterson, vice president of sales and operations.
“We’re happy with the size and quality,” he said.
Growers were hopeful that slightly less volume from Idaho this year than last will result in better potato markets.
“There were too many potatoes last year,” Peterson said.
Idaho’s potato acreage dropped from 329,000 acres last season to 312,000 acres for 2024-25, said Ross Johnson, vice president of the Eagle-based Idaho Potato Commission.
“We will have fewer potatoes than last year, but that doesn’t mean there will be a shortage,” he said. “[Growers] have gotten back to a typical year of acreage and yields.”
There may be fewer potatoes, but Idaho’s crop was “particularly healthy” this year, he said, which means the potatoes will be on the large side.
Johnson encouraged retailers to offer 8- or 10-pound bags of jumbo-size potatoes and warned that they might have trouble finding smaller potatoes to fill 5- and 10-pound bags.
Larger potatoes have some distinct benefits, he said. For example, they’re more efficient for consumers to peel than several smaller ones, and they bring a higher ring for retailers.
There have been a couple of significant changes in the Idaho potato industry recently, Johnson said.
For one thing, the Gem State has become the nation’s No. 1 supplier of yellow potatoes, and the popularity of red potatoes seems to be fading because of their higher price compared to other varieties.
Five pounds of red potatoes now cost $6 to $7, he said, while the same amount of russets are only $2 or $3.
“It’s an indicator of how much consumers are looking to stretch their dollars,” Johnson said.
Also, he said many Idaho shippers are now a one-stop shop for red, yellow, russet and specialty varieties.
Inflation impact
As the seasons progress, potato growers seem to be dealing fairly well with the impact of inflation.
Wada Farms Marketing tries to mitigate the rising costs of growing as much as possible, Beck said.
“We’ve seen [inflation], but I think we’ve been able to mitigate it in a fairly decent fashion,” he said.
Rising costs have prompted some growers to turn to robotics and artificial intelligence, Johnson said.
“They are trying to make those investments in their facilities in order to be able to better mitigate those increased costs long term,” he said.
Wilcox Fresh has seen price spikes in packaging materials and some other inputs, Peterson said, but other costs, such as labor, may have stabilized.
Consumers have not cut potatoes out of their food budgets, he added.
“With rising food costs, I think people turn to potatoes,” Peterson said. “You can buy more [potatoes] with your dollar than you can any other produce item.”