New Brunswick Potato farmers look for market rebound

Potato farmers in New Brunswick are optimistic a strong crop of high-quality spuds this year will help the industry rebound from a dismal showing in 2009. However, the chairman of Potatoes New Brunswick says growers are concerned that current prices for the staple crop do not accurately reflect its market value and could stunt the recovery.

"Overall, I think the industry is going to have a positive year,"said Joe Brennan.

But while all signs point to a good year in New Brunswick, Brennan said the market price for table potatoes has not reached the level industry was anticipating.

"Expectations are for improved prices and they are somewhat improved from last year, but they certainly don't seem to be realized as good as we expected just yet,"Brennan said.

He said potatoes that are sold to packers, who then wheel them to supermarkets, are going on average for between seven and eight dollars per hundred pounds . That's about the price potatoes sold for during most of 2009 and, in many cases for farmers in the province, doesn't even cover the cost of production, Brennan said.

A price of between $10 to $12 a hundredweight would allow New Brunswick producers to earn a profit.

Brennan noted that prices tend to climb near the end of the season between March, April and May - sometimes as high as $14 per hundred weight - but said farmers "had hoped that we could force the market to pay a bit of a higher price all through the year because it makes a more stable pricing structure for all parts of the chain.

"We would be better off as growers to get that $10 per hundredweight all year long rather than getting seven dollars now and $14 in May,"he said. "It's not a good thing if the price goes too high in the spring, it distorts consumption."

Brennan said the reason the price hasn't adjusted the way producers expected is that there are far fewer buyers than there are sellers, giving buyers more control over price-setting.

"We're largely price-takers,"he said, adding about one quarter of the province's potatoes are sold to packers.