PEI Potato farmers watch for warehouse rot

For the second year in a row, wet weather late in the year is prompting Prince Edward Island potato growers to watch their warehouses carefully.

"You'll know it when you smell it," Elmsdale farmer Peter Griffin told CBC News of what farmers are looking for: "Rotten potatoes, they stink."

Last year, crop insurance paid out $15 million to growers because of losses due to heavy rains. This year looks just as bad.

Griffin is checking the temperature and humidity in his company's warehouses every day in the hopes of stopping problems before they start. This year's crop was hit not only by rain. The delays caused by thick mud in the fields also led to frost damage.

"There's a lot of rot showing up, a lot of water damage showing up that we couldn't see when we were digging the potatoes. So I think every farmer on P.E.I. is sitting on pins and needles for the winter."