Canada: Prince Edward Island’s potato bumper crop one of the best in ‘many generations’

After a couple of difficult seasons, this year’s potato crop on Canada’s Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) is being called one of the best in decades, reports Nancy Russell for CBC News.

But an industry analyst says potato growers will need to be patient in selling the bumper crop, to make sure they don’t flood the market and push down prices. 

“This year’s potato crop in P.E.I. is one of the best that growers have grown for many generations. A beautiful crop this year,” said Kevin MacIsaac, general manager of the United Potato Growers of Canada. “Usually, you have one area or two areas (on P.E.I.) that have some real good crops, you don’t have everybody that has a good crop. It’s nice to see people who have been in the industry a long time say this is one of my best crops ever.”

MacIsaac said the last time the crop was around these levels would have been in 2006, and that was with a larger number of acres.

“We have the opportunity to move this crop. There are areas in the country that are short this year,” MacIsaac said. He said on the processing side, this year’s crop is a sharp contrast to the last two years when there was a shortage of potatoes.