New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada’s major potato producing provinces and an important part of the country’s Atlantic potato industry. Potatoes are the province’s leading agricultural crop, with production concentrated particularly in the northwestern part of the province, including the potato growing areas of Carleton, Victoria and Madawaska counties. In 2024, New Brunswick produced approximately 771,379 tonnes of potatoes from 21,448 hectares, representing about 13.3% of Canada’s total potato production. Potatoes also accounted for nearly 18% of the province’s total farm cash receipts in 2024, highlighting their importance to New Brunswick agriculture.

New Brunswick has a diversified potato sector serving processing, fresh/table and seed markets. The provincial government reports that approximately 56% of the crop is destined for processing, 25% for the fresh market and 19% for seed. The province is particularly associated with processing potatoes and the French-fry industry, with Florenceville-Bristol recognized by the New Brunswick government as the “French Fry Capital of the World.” The province's potato growing conditions include well-drained soils suitable for commercial production, while modern irrigation, harvesting, grading and controlled atmosphere storage help growers maintain quality from field to market.

New Brunswick also has an established seed potato industry with domestic and international importance. The province's seed program is supported by nuclear-stock production, greenhouse multiplication, field certification and laboratory testing for important potato diseases and pathogens. New Brunswick has exported seed potatoes since at least the mid-1930s and has developed specialized infrastructure around Fredericton and other potato producing areas. Commercial cultivars grown in the province include processing and table varieties such as Russet Burbank, Shepody, Ranger Russet, Atlantic, Kennebec, Superior, Yukon Gold and Norland, while the provincial variety resources also include locally developed cultivars such as Fundy.

Potato production in New Brunswick has a long agricultural history, with the crop becoming increasingly important as commercial agriculture developed in the province. The federal government had already published a dedicated economic study of potato production in New Brunswick in 1937, demonstrating that potato production was sufficiently important to warrant detailed research into its economics and production systems. During the twentieth century, agricultural research also became an important component of the industry. The Fredericton Experimental Station, established in 1912, developed research programs involving potato breeding and production, including the development of varieties adapted to regional conditions. The Fundy potato, for example, was bred at the Fredericton Research Station from a cross made in 1950 and was registered in Canada in 1958.

The industry underwent major structural changes during the 1950s and 1960s as mechanization, larger-scale production and the expanding processing industry transformed potato farming. Historical research documents a rapid concentration of production into the principal potato growing counties of Carleton, Madawaska and Victoria, while the number of farms declined and average farm size increased substantially. At the same time, the growth of the French-fry industry created stronger demand for processing varieties and encouraged research into varieties and production practices suited to processing. New Brunswick subsequently developed a sophisticated potato value chain covering seed production, commercial cultivation, storage, fresh packing and processing, which remains an important part of the province's agricultural economy today.