New formula to calculate potato selling price applied in PEI

Trends in potato prices are key indicators for potato farmers to keep track of. But average potato price trends can be calculated in a number of different ways.

PEI now has become the first jurisdiction in Canada to adopt two new measures - fresh weight average and grower return index - for determining the selling price of potatoes.

While calculating the selling price may seem like an obvious exercise to those outside the industry, Greg Donald says there are a number of factors that go into the calculation including package size, type and volume.

Donald, who is general manager of the PEI Potato Board, says his organization has been looking to bring some consistency to the equation. Their search took them south of the border, where the United Potato Growers of America has been using the two new measures for the past five years.

Donald says the PEI Potato board will do its best to convince the other provinces that are part of the United Potato Growers of Canada to adopt the system. That would allow PEI growers to compare their prices to the US and their counterparts in other provinces.