Canadian growers harvested a fourth consecutive record potato crop in 2024, as production rose 0.3 percent year over year in 2024 to 127.0 million hundredweight due to an increase in harvested area.
New Brunswick (+14.3 percent to 17.0 million hundredweight) and Quebec (+17.5 percent to 13.7 million hundredweight) recorded the largest increases in production, as these provinces recovered from wet growing conditions in 2023. Alberta produced 23.7 percent of Canadian potatoes in 2024, maintaining its position as the largest potato producer in Canada, followed by Manitoba (21.6 percent) and Prince Edward Island (20.4 percent).
Seeded area was down 0.3 percent from 2023 to 391,438 acres nationally in 2024. Alberta (minus 4.5 percent) and Manitoba (minus 3.0 percent) recorded the largest decreases in seeded area due to lower demand for processing potatoes in these provinces. The decreases in seeded area were partially offset by increases in Quebec (+4.6 percent), Ontario (+4.1 percent) and Prince Edward Island (+0.9 percent).
Favourable weather conditions throughout most parts of Canada during the 2024 harvest season allowed Canadian producers to harvest the vast majority (98.0 percent) of the total seeded area. Despite the decrease in seeded area, harvested area was up 0.5 percent to 383,666 acres in 2024, following improved growing conditions in Eastern Canada.
Nationally, the average yield decreased to 330.9 hundredweight per acre in 2024, down 0.2 percent from the previous year. Alberta (minus 1.8 percent) continued to report having the highest average yield, at 412.0 hundredweight per acre in 2024, followed by Manitoba (minus 2.7 percent to 362.1 hundredweight per acre) and British Columbia (minus 10.7 percent to 329.5 hundredweight per acre). New Brunswick (+9.3 percent) and Quebec (+10.3 percent) were the only provinces to experience increased yields in 2024.