Red River Valley red potato shipper O.C. Schulz & Sons Inc. is ahead of its shipping volume of a year ago, said David Moquist, secretary-treasurer for the firm located in Crystal, N.D.
“We have had excellent demand,” said Moquist. “I can’t complain, but a little more money would make the pluses and minuses work out a little better.”
Moquist said that, overall, the Red River Valley red potato crop “looks really nice except for growth cracks,” which have reduced the pack-out percentage. This ultimate decrease in fresh market yield per acre, combined with low prices, “will make farming a little skinny,” at least for the early part of this winter.
Moquist suggested that potato prices are a matter of industry psychology as much as real economics. But, either way, he expects a decrease in red potato supplies early in 2016. Florida has lost a few red potato growers, he has heard.
“With that going on and our extra shrink, I think there is room for the market to go up more than last year,” he said. Moquist’s outlook for potato marketing in the coming weeks is “optimistic but realistic as well. This is kind of a high-risk, low-reward sort of business.
“We would certainly like a stronger price, if it was available to us,” Moquist continued. “As farmers, we would never turn that down.”
Source: The Produce News