It was another challenging year, but overall, potatoes were harvested without heavy losses
Overall for 2019, Wisconsin potato growers report average to below average yields with a smaller than normal size profile, very good quality with good specific gravity readings and very little hollow heart.
In 2019, Wisconsin potato growers harvested approximately 63,000 acres. The average yield on acres harvested in Wisconsin is estimated to be 410 cwt. (hundredweight)/acre, an increase of 10 cwt./acre compared to 2018.
That puts Wisconsin’s potato production at 25,830,000, an increase of 2,830,000 cwt., or 12.3 percent compared to 2018 (which was an extremely low production year with over 5,000 acres of unharvested potatoes due to heavy frost losses).
This estimation is a result of conversations with growers and is considerably lower than the estimate made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (29 million cwt.), but very close to the estimate made by the North American Potato Market News (25.7 million cwt.).
Total planted acres are similar to the 2018 crop, which were reported to be approximately 64,000 acres.
Due to cold, rainy weather, most Wisconsin potato growers got a late start on planting, with the crop going into the ground 10 days to two weeks later than normal.
