Canada's 2005 Potato harvest Shrinks

OTTAWA - Jan 13/06 - SNS -- Canada's potato harvest ended up at 4.28 million metric tons (MT) in 2005, down sharply from the 5.28 million and 5.17 million MT harvests recorded in 2003 and 2004.

In releasing the updated data, Statistics Canada said there have been some minor revisions to the 2005 potato estimates for Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta as a result of additional survey information.

"The revised estimates show that Canada's 2005 potato production declined slightly to 94,413,000 hundredweight (4 282,500 MT). This was mainly as a result of a 900 acre (400 hectare) decrease in the area harvested. An increase in the yield in Saskatchewan did not offset the decrease in area harvested."

Most of the year over year reduction in Canadian output was accounted for by Manitoba, normally Canada's second largest potato producing province after Prince Edward Island. Output sank from 1.033 million MT in 2004 to just 723,900 MT last year.

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