Canada: Manitoba potato acres take big hit

Canada’s potato acreage will be down slightly this year with significant drops in Manitoba and New Brunswick. Statistics Canada data, released the third week of July, indicates the country will have 342,602 acres of potatoes, a 1.8 percent decline from 2015. The year-over-year decrease is part of a longer trend of slumping potato acres. In 2006, Canadian farmers planted approximately 400,000 acres of potatoes. Acreage has bounced around over the last decade, but the trend line is down. French fry demand is weakening or flat in North America and potato yields have been creeping upward, thus cutting into overall acres. More