Voigt: Early Varieties Look Good, But Questions Remain

Chris Voigt, Executive Director of the Washington State Potato Commission said he started this harvest season with a lot of optimism, but now he’s a bit more cautious.  Voigt said it’s not clear what impact, if any, the prolonged heat of July and August had on this year’s late season varieties, so there is some reason for concern.  But, despite those issues, he was quick to point out that the early varieties, spuds that were harvested in July and August have looked absolutely fabulous. 

“Incredible quality, really strong yields. But those were the potatoes that really took advantage of those excellent growing conditions early on in the season. So far the early stuff looks really good.”

Voigt said as harvest continues into the cooler months, he’ll have a better idea of the quality of the later varieties.

Another concern for potato growers across the Northwest is a lack of updated free-trade agreements, which Voigt said is hurting growers across the region and the nation.  Voigt says over the last ten years, potato exports, primarily frozen potato products like French fries, hash brown patties, tater tots, are up 24%.  While that sounds good, Voigt said there’s a detail that he finds very concerning.

"Over those same 10 years, even though our exports were up 24%, we lost global market share. It went from 37% down to 21%. So that just shows that, you know, demand for frozen potato products is high and we haven't been able to keep up with demand.  So other countries have stepped up the European Union, China has gotten big into frozen potatoes, India is now starting to export, Argentina is now exporting. So, we're starting to see a lot of new players, new competition in the marketplace.”

Voigt added if the lack of trade deals wasn’t difficult enough, he says the strength of the U.S. dollar is very challenging, since it makes American products more expensive.

For our entire conversation with Voigt, listen to our podcast below:

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail glenn.vaagen@townsquaremedia.com