Mexico: Sonora and Sinaloa Grow More Than Half of a 2.1 Million Tonne Potato Crop
Mexican potato output has grown sevenfold since 1961, driven by irrigated farms in the northwest. Growers there now plan a cut in area after a poor winter season and weak prices.
Mexico produced 2.12 million tonnes of potatoes in 2024, according to FAOSTAT data published by Our World in Data. In 1961 the figure was 303,000 tonnes. Output reached 1.63 million tonnes in 2000 and 1.94 million tonnes in 2020.
The main driver was yield. FAOSTAT shows 6.6 tonnes per hectare in 1961, 23.9 tonnes in 2000 and 32.7 tonnes in 2024. This is one of the highest average yields in Latin America.
The northwest leads
Production is now concentrated in two irrigated states on the Pacific coast. Sonora produced 675,000 tonnes in 2024 and Sinaloa 474,000 tonnes. These figures come from the federal agricultural information service SIAP, as published by the Sinaloa state government. Next came the State of Mexico with 170,000 tonnes, Puebla with 152,000 tonnes and Veracruz with 144,000 tonnes.
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By value, Sonora led with 5.68 billion pesos. Sinaloa followed with 5.34 billion pesos. In Sinaloa, the municipality of Ahome supplied 61.1% of the state volume.
The northwest grows potatoes in the winter season. The central highlands grow them mainly in the rainy season. This gives the country supply for most of the year.
Too much potato, then a cut
Rapid growth in the northwest has created price risks. In March 2025 the president of the national potato growers confederation CONPAPA, Gildardo González Saldívar, told the magazine Imagen Agropecuaria that the Pacific region had more than 35,000 hectares. He said the usual area was about 30,000 hectares. He estimated national output at about 2 million tonnes from about 68,000 hectares. He said new investors had entered potato growing.
In August 2026 he told the news site Luz Noticias that growers in northern Sinaloa would reduce the area by 10–20% in the 2026–27 season. The area in the last season was about 16,000 hectares. He named low yields after a poor winter and weak prices in February and March as the reasons.
Why it matters
Mexico is one of the main export markets for United States potatoes and processed products. At the same time, its own irrigated northwest is a strong, high-yield production base.
A smaller Sinaloa crop in early 2027 would reduce winter supply in the central markets. This may support prices and open space for imported processed products. Seed suppliers should expect lower orders from the northwest this autumn.
Photo: Potatoes and other vegetables on sale in Mexico (illustrative). Cristofor Ferrandis / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
