INNISFAIL – It was a tale of two seasons for Alberta’s potato farmers in 2018.
Hot, dry conditions and below average yields in central and northern Alberta and colder, wetter conditions and slightly above average yields in the southern part of the province.
“For Central Alberta and to the north of us it was not quite as good (as the south). We were too dry and too hot here,” said John Buyks. “Potato yields were below average.”
Buyks and his wife Corry are owners of Upper Green Farms Ltd. just west of Innisfail. They began farming in 1993 and are a founding member of the Innisfail Growers. In 2015, son Hanno and his wife Megan took over operations. The Buykses were named Innisfail’s 2018 Farm Family of the Year.
They farm about 1,200 acres of crops each year, including grains such as wheat, barley and canola and about 140 acres of potatoes.
“I think for Central Alberta it was not a good year when it comes to potatoes,” said Buyks. “I know that also in the Lacombe area where there are some more seed (potato) growers, they didn’t have big yields either,” he added, noting there were some issues with storage as well.
“From the second week of June to the first week of September there was barely any rain. A few showers here and there but not enough,” said Buyks, adding his farm harvested its potatoes in the fall before the early frost hit.
Upper Green Farms grows several varieties of potatoes, noted Buyks, all of which are affected by the elements differently.
“The early potatoes usually have a little less issues with drought and heat,” he said. “It’s usually the (russet) burbanks that need a long season and they were running out of moisture.”
The farm’s table potatoes were part of the early varieties and yields were decent in 2018.
“It’s a smaller acreage and it’s managed a little differently for us here,” said Buyks. “We don’t spray them at all and (those table potatoes) are all for the farmers markets in Central Alberta.”
Further south, it was a different story.
“We had a good year. We were slightly above average,” said Terence Hochstein, executive director of the Potato Growers of Alberta.
While yields were good, farmers did have their difficulties.
“It was challenging. There was a late spring and a mixed bag for harvest. It turned cold early and then it froze,” added the Taber resident.
Every year about 55,000 acres of potatoes are grown in the province, noted Hochstein. Of those, about 40,000 acres -- predominantly in southern Alberta -- goes to processing plants,10,000 acres are seed potatoes grown in Central Alberta and 5,000 acres are grown as fresh (or table) potatoes in the province.
In 2018, Alberta grew 2.2 billion pounds of potatoes that were harvested on 53,500 acres.
“Alberta did, for various reasons, leave 1,500 acres in the ground,” said Hochstein, noting farmers do leave potatoes in the ground every year.
“Eighty per cent of the production in Alberta is processing,” he added. “That’s three French fry plants and two (potato) chip plants.”
Hochstein said total acres of potato production or yields have increased in recent years, due to several factors.
“We’re (also) undergoing a major expansion in the processing industry with the new plant being built in Lethbridge by Cavendish Farms,” he said.
Although Alberta has the highest yield per acre of any province, it still sits in third place in production overall, behind Prince Edward Island (P.E.I) and Manitoba.
“Manitoba is also going to undergo a major expansion as well right now and when it’s all said and done we’re still going to be number 3, as far as acres,” explained Hochstein. “P.E.I. will remain on top, Manitoba will be second and Alberta will be third.
“We have the highest yield per acre than any province because we have irrigation (and irrigation infrastructure) here (in southern Alberta) ,” he added.
“Alberta produces more tons per acre than any other province in Canada.”
Weather also played a huge factor further east in Canada in 2018, affecting both crops in Manitoba and P.E.I.
That impacted the numbers of potatoes harvested in all three provinces.
“Alberta bypassed P.E.I. in total tons produced for the 2018 crop year because they had a wreck in P.E.I. and Manitoba as well. That wreck was due to Mother Nature,” he said, noting a massive crop-killing frost in P.E.I. on Sept. 25.
“Normally they would grow for another month down there, so whatever was underground at that point in time, (the frost) just killed it dead,” explained Hochstein. “They also had to abandon eight thousand acres, (amounting to) tens of millions of dollars in losses.”
Manitoba also had a killing frost around that time and producers there too had to leave close to 4,000 acres in the ground, he noted.
Alberta was hit with an early winter but was very lucky, said Hochstein.
“We were about one day and two degrees away from the same wreck as them,” he said. “They got hit with a killing frost (and) our temperatures went down to plus two.
“We did end up with a bunch of chilled potatoes. They weren’t frozen but they were chilled and got cold,” he added.
Mother Nature might have been a challenge in 2018 for southern Alberta potato farmers but their potato crops pulled through.
“We had a very good crop this year,” Hochstein concluded.
