Despite a difficult growing season, Canada will harvest a record potato yield in 2022. At 0,8%, the yield is slightly higher than in 2021, due to more hectares and a minimal increase in hectare yield.
Canada's potato harvest this year is estimated at 5,57 million tons of potatoes, according to the Canadian Statistics Service. This means that the yield is only slightly more than 40.000 tons higher than last year, or less than one percent. While Canadian potato growers have had a difficult growing season on average. A very cold and wet spring caused planting to be postponed in large parts of the country. At the end of the summer it became very hot and dry.
Large variation in yields
The minimal increase in yield compared to last year is due to both an increase in the number of hectares and the yield. The area increased slightly by 0,9% to 156.400 hectares. The average yield was virtually the same at 36,1 tons per hectare in 2022 compared to 36,0 tons per hectare in 2021. The differences in yield are very large this year, as was also the case in some European countries. Plots with good yields alternate with very poor yields within the same region.
The largest share of Canadian potatoes was harvested in the state of Alberta, with a share of 21,8%. The yield was 8,9% higher than last season, despite disturbing reports at the start of the growing season. The states of Prince Edward Island (PEI) and Manitoba are close behind with a share of 21,6% and 21,3%. Last year, PEI had the largest share of the potato yield. However, 2,2% less was harvested in PEI due to the decrease in the area of seed potatoes. The reason for this shift is the increased demand for processing potatoes in western Alberta.