US: Rain Curtails Idaho Potato Harvest as Shipping-Point Prices Hold Steady
USDA's National Potato and Onion Report of 21 September says harvest in Idaho's Upper Valley and Twin Falls-Burley district was curtailed by rain and wet fields, while carton prices for Russet Norkotahs held steady.
Rain has slowed the potato harvest in Idaho, the largest potato-producing state in the US. The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Potato and Onion Report dated Monday, 21 September 2026 notes that in the Upper Valley and Twin Falls-Burley district “harvest curtailed due to rain and wet fields”.
Prices did not react. AMS describes the Idaho market as steady, with good demand for 40–70 count cartons. Shipping-point prices for Russet Norkotah potatoes in 50 lb cartons, U.S. One grade, were:
- 40s and 50s: $22.00;
- 60s and 70s: $20.00–21.00;
- 80s: $15.00–18.00, mostly $16.00;
- 90s: $13.00;
- 100s: $11.00.
In Wisconsin, the same report lists 40–70 count Russet Norkotah cartons at $19.00–21.00, mostly $20.00, also with a steady market. Total US potato shipments for the season to date reached 10,978 thousand cwt.
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Context
The weather delay comes in a season when Idaho was already expected to harvest a smaller crop. Earlier in September industry reports pointed to the smallest Idaho crop since 2011 and prices at their highest since summer 2023 (see our earlier coverage). A grower near Hazelton told local station KMVT in mid-September that his fields were yielding around 450–460 cwt per acre against a typical 500.
Why it matters
A wet harvest window is a quality risk as much as a timing problem: potatoes dug from saturated soils are more prone to bruising, soft rot and storage losses. With a smaller crop, every week of delay tightens the supply that packers and processors can count on for the storage season. For now the market is holding steady, but the next AMS reports will show whether the rain turns into a price move, particularly for the larger carton sizes in strongest demand.
Photo: Potato harvest and sorting in Declo, Idaho, 2018 (illustrative). Kirsten Strough, USDA / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Source: USDA AMS, National Potato and Onion Report, 21 September 2026.
