Alberta potato production booming despite recent drought conditions

Potato farmers in the province enjoyed a strong harvest in 2023, after back-to-back, record-breaking production years, according to the Potato Growers of Alberta.

This year, Alberta produced 32,063,000 hundredweight (CWT) potatoes, more than Prince Edward Island's 25,813,000 CWT total, per StatsCanada.

Last year marked just the secondtime this century that Alberta surpassed P.E.I., famous for its spuds, as Canada's largest potato-producing province.

"The industry is starting to shift, and it's not just Alberta," said Terence Hochstein, executive director of the Potato Growers of Alberta.

"Manitoba is growing. Washington is growing. Idaho continues to grow. The production is starting to shift from the east to the west."

Hochstein saidhigher yield numbers in western North America are largely because of increased planting, not consistently strong growing conditions.

Growers planted 80,100 acres of potatoes in Alberta this year, up from last year's total of 73,080acres.

"We went into a very good warm May and June. And that just seemed to translate into a great crop this year," he said, adding that timely rains helped potato farmers in central and northern Alberta.

"Last few years [growers] ran out of moisture."

Farmers face drought conditions

Most of Alberta's agricultural areas are running moisture deficits extending back at least three years, according to the province.

Alberta's final crop report of 2023shows major crops were down 4.3 per cent from the five-year average.

Most potato acres in Alberta are grown under irrigation, and even though some irrigators had their allocations reduced this summer, access to reservoirs has helped shield potato production from drought impacts.

Alison Davie, owner of North Paddock Farms in Taber, Alta., said her yield was "above average," despite hot, dry conditions.

"We're mostly in the St. Mary River Irrigation District. We had our water cut back quite a lot," she said.

"You just have to roll with it, and whatever Mother Nature deals us, you just have to make the best of it."

Davie, who sits on the board of the Potato Growers of Alberta, said she had to harvest early in the morning during the early part of the season to avoid digging up potatoes in the heat of the afternoon, which creates storage issues.

She's glad to be tending tubers in the province.

"There's a lot of young people involved, and we can see the growth potential," she said. "It's definitely a very exciting industry, and that's why the investment is coming this way."

More growth projected

Hochstein believes Alberta's potato industry will continue to grow.

"The opportunities, the access to labour, the willingness to work with local and provincial governments, everything just seems to be lined up right," he said.

McCain Foods announced in March it would invest $600 million to more than double the size of its french fry processing facility, just outside Coaldale, Alta., and the workforce employed there.

Potato production contributes more than $2 billion per year to Alberta's economy, according tothe Potato Growers of Alberta.