Statcan: Canadian Potato production down 2%

For harvest 2007, good growing conditions in most of Canada resulted in a yield of 279.0 cwt per acre (31.27 tonnes per hectare), which approached the record yield of 287.1 cwt per acre (32.18 tonnes per hectare) seen in 2006. An excellent fall for harvesting in all provinces except British Columbia resulted in only 1% of the area not being harvested.

At the Canadian level, the area planted in 2007 was down 1% compared with 2006, to 397,000 acres (160,666 hectares), and the yield was down 3%. Overall production was down 2% to 109,591,000 cwt (4,971,048 tonnes).

Manitoba's production increased 10% in 2007 in response to increased contracts for processing potatoes. Alberta and Quebec also showed increases, with production up 4% and 2%, respectively. The greatest decreases occurred in Ontario, down 32% due to poor yields, and Newfoundland and Labrador, down 24%.