Yields were down from last year, but acreage was up by 2,000 to 383,666.
Yields have shot up from about 280 hundredweight per acre in 2010 to about 325 in the last four years.
Total production has also increased, including Western Canada to supply French fry processors.
Cavendish Farms, McCain Foods and Simplot built new French-fry plants or expanded existing plants in Manitoba and Alberta.
Last year McCain’s announced a $600 million investment that will double the size of its plant near Coaldale, Alta.
Alberta now produces more spuds than any province, accounting for 23.7 per cent of Canada’s production. Manitoba is second at 21.6 per cent and Prince Edward Island, historically the leader, is now at 20.4 per cent.
And where Is Ontario? Ah, but it has a marketing board.
And my experience is that it markets some of the most damaged spuds in supermarkets. There are a few rare exceptions.
