“Overall, Eastern Canada has been dryer than normal at this time of year.” So says Dwayne Coffin of Vanco Farms in Mount Albion, PEI, who is carefully watching how the 2020 crop of Prince Edward Island potatoes is developing.
He told FreshPlaza’s Astrid Van Den Broek the plantings got off to a solid start. “If anything, they were probably planted ahead of schedule upwards of a week, maybe even two weeks.”
However, Coffin describes the growing season as a Catch-22. “Most growers were pleased to get their crop in on a timely manner. But it’s been extremely dry for our region,” he says. June for instance, saw regular daytime temperatures hit 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) and 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) with humidity.
As of right now, a harvest date for the crop is still up in the air. “If this continues, the yield potential will be sacrificed so the growers will want to allow those potato fields to stay alive and green as long as they can to get the tonnage and size.
Source: Read the full report in FreshPlaza
Photo: FreshPlaza
