North Dakota Ag Connection - Impending Disaster for Potato Growers

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Impending Disaster for Potato Growers
North Dakota Ag Connection - 10/18/2019

Grand Forks has seen just under 10 inches of rain in the past three weeks, followed by a full-fledged blizzard...right in the middle of the potato harvest.

There is little doubt that this will make it nearly impossible to get the entire potato crop in the Red River Valley region harvested.

Based on last week's crop and weather report from the USDA's National Ag Statistics Service, and reports from the field, the North Plains Potato Growers Association estimates that roughly half of the potato crop is still in the ground in North Dakota and nieghboring counties in Minnesota, reports Ted Kreis, communications person for the association.

NPPGA President Donavon Johnson has been working with the Risk Management Agency, North Dakota and Minnesota congressional delegations, state officials along with the National Potato Council to emphasize the need to find ways to extend crop insurance coverages and find other programs to assist our growers.

The Red River and its tributaries are at record levels for late fall and are spilling over onto unharvested crops. Beginning today, the Red River at Oslo, Minnesota is expected to top major flood stage and stay there for an extended period of time. It is expected to crest in Oslo at a level just two feet below the all-time record for any flood. With a saturated ground going into winter the freeze-up, the possibility for spring flooding in 2020 is also much greater.

Growers desperately need an extended period of dry, warm and windy weather just to get a portion of the unharvested crop out, but one look at the calendar will tell you time is running out, Kreis added.

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