Positive Turn for the 2022 Canadian Potato Production

The estimated Canadian potato production for 2022 is 5.57m tons. This is somewhat higher than 2021 by 43,363 tons or 0.8% as a result of increased planted hectares and yields in several regions of the nation.

It should be noted from this perspective that the total Canadian reported output for 2021 was 5,53 million tons, down from the 5,68m tons initially announced one year earlier, according to UPGC experts.

In the west, Alberta (+8.9% to 1,21m tons) and Manitoba (+4.9% to 1,18m tons) saw the highest gains in potato production for 2022 as seeded areas increased to keep up with the expansion in processing demand. Due to more planted land and a very high harvest in 2022, Quebec also reported a healthy growth of 5.9%.

Alberta produced the highest proportion of potatoes in Canada, with a 21.8% share, followed by Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) and Manitoba at 21.6% and 21.3%, respectively. These shifts were brought on by a high demand for processing potatoes in the west and a decline in planted acreage, primarily in seed, in PEI.

“In 2022, overall planted acreage was 156,447 hectares nationally, a small increase of 1,357 ha (+0.9%) over last year, largely from increased demand for processing potatoes in North America. The increase was not even across the regions, with some (Alberta, Quebec, and Manitoba) on the rise and others (PEI, British Columbian, and Ontario) decreasing compared to 2021,” according to the UPGC report.

The majority of growers were able to harvest the great majority (98.7%) of the total sowed land across Canada during the harvest season because of very favorable weather conditions. When we compare this year to 2021, we can observe that the total amount of harvested land increased by 0.5%, from 153,549 ha to 154,367 ha.

“During initial digs and right through harvest, there was a great deal of variability in yields being reported across Canada and even different from field to field for an individual grower in certain cases,” the UPGC experts say.

Regional variations were also noted between provinces, such as between the western and eastern parts of P.E.I. or between southwest Ontario and the Alliston region. The two states with the greatest average yields, Manitoba at 37.37 tons per hectare and Alberta at 42.62 tons per hectare, both saw increases from the previous year.

While P.E.I. saw a nice rise of 0.9% this year reporting 36.82 tons per hectare, well and above their six-year average, New Brunswick reported a fall in average yield compared to 2021 but is still quite close to Manitoba at 37.25 tons per hectare. The country's overall average yield was estimated to have increased by 0.2% from 2021 to 2022, rising from 36.45 tons/ha to 36.55 tons/ha.