Canada: PEI potato harvest winding down

An estimated 80 per cent of the potato crop from Western P.E.I. is already in storage, says Bill MacKendrick from the West Prince Department of Agriculture office.

"Some guys are finishing up and some guys have a lot left,"MacKendrick reported.

Storage space is starting to become an issue, he said. "It's getting maxed out. It's been a big crop."

MacKendrick said the quality of the crop has generally been good. "You'll always hear the horror stories about rot,"he said, "but, as a rule, it's not a big issue."

Greg Donald, manager of the P.E.I. Potato Board estimated 75 to 80 per cent of P.E.I's crop is out of the ground. He said that's ahead of schedule in comparison to previous years.

Potato shipments are also showing encouraging signs, up 25 per cent as of the end of September, with in-roads made into the Caribbean: "That's business we hadn't seen in a while."