Chipping Potatoes

Chipping potato storage supplies continue to diminish. Volume is low; quality is fair, at best.

• Due to the Northwest’s record heatwave this past summer, this year’s storage crop did not produce enough stocks to ship through the transition to new crop spring/summer potatoes
• To extend storage supplies over the next few weeks, suppliers who still have potatoes on hand will be allocating or filling orders based on six-week averages
• Suppliers are sorting through product that would normally be culled out in order to fulfill orders
• Remaining stocks will exhibit multiple quality concerns:
  • Discoloration
  • Thin skins
  • Pressure and shoulder bruising
  • Mixed sizing
• Once ready for production, new crop potatoes will be sourced from several growing regions such as Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas
• New crop potatoes are expected to become available the week of June 13

Idaho Potatoes

Idaho storage potato supplies continue tighten. Norkotahs will be depleted next week.

Storage Crop

• Burbanks will be the sole variety on the market until new crop Norkotahs become available in August
• Prices have strengthened as suppliers continue to work to extend remaining stocks

Quality

• Pressure and shoulder bruising, along with hollow heart, will be seen sporadically in remaining storage supplies
• Pressure and shoulder bruising (soft, external indents) result from constant contact with adjacent potatoes, or the floor, while raw product sits in storage piles
• Hollow heart (small, irregularly shaped internal craters) develops internally during the season when potatoes grow faster than normal due to adverse weather
• 40- and 50-count stocks are adequate
• 60- through 80-count supplies are limited
• 90– through 120-count potatoes are readily available

Onions

Markon First Crop (MFC) Onions from New Mexico have hit the market; supply will begin to ramp up next week. MFC California onions will be shipped out of the Imperial Valley through this weekend, then transition up to the San Joaquin Valley on Monday, June 6.

• Expect markets to remain steady through next week, then ease once the California-San Joaquin Valley and New Mexico seasons ramp up
• New crop, fresh-run onions will have dry, thin skins and light color exterior
• Daytime temperatures in California and New Mexico are ranging from 80 to over 100 degrees (°F)
• Growers will harvest onions during evening or early morning hours
• Finished product is packed and shipped from shaded facilities, with high powered fans generating airflow and ventilation to insure onions are dried and cured properly
• Transit and storage temps should be in the 60 to 70 degrees (°F), with sufficient airflow, to insure best quality

Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.

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