Potato shortages likely in Saskatchewan: Vegetable specialist
Potato shortages are likely in Saskatchewan but won’t impact anyone’s Christmas dinner, according to the province’s top authority on vegetables.
The comment from Provincial Vegetable Specialist Connie Achtymichuk comes on the heels of a recent shortage warning from the United Potato Growers of Canada, which indicated this past fall’s poor weather is to blame for a poor potato crop across the country. Saskatchewan’s potato crop is split between seed potatoes (3,500) and table stock (3,000) and Achtymichuk said she believed quality would be difficult.
“Certainly anything that was harvested after the frost, they’ll have some trouble storing,” she said.
Achtymichuk said the shortages would not likely be felt in Saskatchewan until February or March. Saskatchewan has a few packaging plants, which supply provincial retail stores.