Weather could put dent in 2011 US potato crop

Summer potato supplies will be short, but they should be sufficient to fill retail shelves until fall harvests begin.

And thanks in large part to Mother Nature, the 2011-12 crop should be of manageable size.

Those were among the issues discussed at the Salt Lake City-based United Potato Growers of America’s annual crop transition conference in Bloomington, Minn., June 9. 

Potato markets have been strong for months, and some shippers will likely run out of storage supplies before the new-crop harvests.

But Lee Frankel, United Potato’s president and chief executive officer, was optimistic that shippers and retailers would continue the good supply management work they’ve done so far this spring.

“The industry has done a fairly good job of adjusting prices and metering shipment levels,” Frankel said. “The outlook is (that the market is) pretty close to where it needs to be.”