“Potato farmers in New Brunswick work tirelessly to produce their crops, but excessive moisture last year had a direct impact on their operations,” said federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay in a news release today.

“This joint AgriRecovery initiative will provide targeted support to the sector, helping farmers get back on their feet so they can keep producing the top-quality products they’re known for.”

The initiative will compensate eligible producers for extraordinary costs related to growing, harvesting, storage or disposal of last year’s potato crop.

Summer of 2023 was “one of the wettest summers on recent record,” said New Brunswick’s Agriculture Minister Margaret Johnson.

“The financial impact on New Brunswick potato growers was significant,” Johnson said. “The new AgriRecovery initiative for potato growers will provide much-needed help. This is an important response to what the industry has asked for and a critical step in ensuring the sector is able to remain resilient.”

AgriRecovery is an ad hoc disaster relief framework for farmers. Program funding is cost-shared between the federal and provincial governments.

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The CFIA in its 2023 national potato wart survey tested for the soil-borne fungus in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

This marks the second year the survey turned up no cases of potato wart, though the 2022 survey did not include P.E.I, which struggled with the fungus in 2021 and 2022.

In late 2021, two processing potato fields on the island were confirmed infected with potato wart.

On U.S. trade concerns, the federal government shut down fresh potato exports from the province. Most trade resumed in April 2022.

The 2021 cases were followed by confirmations in February, July and December of 2022, bringing in export restrictions and mitigation orders.

Earlier this year, the federal government asked for producer feedback on new potato wart guidance documents and plans.

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At 32.063 million hundredweight of potatoes this year, Alberta vaulted from third to first place as it improved on the previous year’s crop of 26.813 million. Manitoba moved into second spot from third with its harvest of 29.760 million cwt. following last year’s 26.139 million. Prince Edward Island saw its output reduced in 2023 to 25.813 million cwt. from 27.789 million. In 2023, the trio combined for 68 per cent of Canada’s total potato harvest of 128,801 million cwt.

Victoria Stamper, general manager of the United Potato Growers of Canada, noted production in Eastern Canada was mostly down in 2023. She said PEI was hit with rain during its harvest, while Quebec and New Brunswick contended with wet conditions through their summer and during harvest as well.

Stamper said Manitoba and especially Alberta saw greatly different conditions in 2023.

“Alberta has been in drought conditions for a few years now. They’ve been helped out with irrigation. Even that was getting tough. There were some growers who moved some their irrigation to from other crops to potatoes,” she commented.

StatCan calculated 397,232 acres of potatoes were seeded in Canada in 2023, of which 387,061 were harvested. That’s an improvement from 385,146 and 379,955 respectively in 2022. The average yield was up for a third consecutive year at 332.8 cwt. per acre compared to 325.1 in 2022 and 318.7 in 2021.

Alberta’s planted potato area came to 80,100 acres in 2023, up from 73,080 the previous year. Harvested acres rose to 76,440 from 71,325. Yields pushed past the 400 mark this year, at 419.5 cwt./ac. compared to 375.9 in 2022.

In Manitoba, planted acres nudged up to 81,000 in 2023 from 80,500 and those at harvest rose to 80,000 from 79,250. Yields improved to 372 cwt./ac. this year versus the 329.8 in 2022.

PEI’s potato acres saw some slight adjustments, with planted at 84,500 this year from 83,300 and harvested acres dipped to 83,000 from 83,200. Yields retreated to 311 cwt./ac. this year from the 334 in 2022.

As for the rest of the provinces, their potato crops were: New Brunswick 14.879 million cwt., Quebec 13.492 million, Ontario 8.602 million, British Columbia 2.140 million, Saskatchewan 1.780 million, Nova Scotia 222,000 and Newfoundland and Labrador 50,000.

Manitoba is scheduled to mark its Potato Production Days at the Canad Inns in Brandon from Jan. 24 to 25.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg. 

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