A P R I L 2 0 1 7 4 POTATO GROWER 4 POTATO GROWER Yellow Potatoes Continue To Gain Market Share by Ted Kreis, NPPGA Marketing and Communications Director Yellow potatoes continue to gain market share and the gain is mostly at the expense of russets and whites which is good news for the Red River Valley. You see, Red River Valley fresh shippers haven’t com- peted in the russet or white potato markets for years so any shift to red or yellow potato preference by con- sumers is good news! Growers both here and in other parts of the country are slowly adapting to these changing trends and are shifting more and more acres to colored varieties. In the Red River Valley, red production has been up and down in recent years because Mother Nature has had a tremendous influence. However, one trend is clear, the valley is grow- ing more yellows. Heimbuch Potato located south of Oaks in southeast North Dakota is geographically separated a bit from other Red River Valley shippers but they are nonetheless tied-in closely with the valley including the USDA production and shipment numbers. Brothers Chad and Josh Heimbuch picked up on the trend and switched to all yellow potato production beginning in 2013. Shippers in the northern valley are also adjusting and filling their bins with more yellow potatoes. In the last 10 years there has been more that a six-fold increase in yellow potato production in the northern valley. In 2010 the Red River Valley, (including Heimbuch) produced just over 200,000 hundredweight (cwt.) of yellow potatoes. Just five years later in 2015 the valley pro- duced 607,000 cwt., a three-fold increase. Yellow production increased even more in 2016 to 620,000 cwt. despite some losses in the northern valley. In 2010 yellow potatoes made up just six percent of the Red River Valley fresh crop; the past two years they have averaged 14.5 percent. Nationwide white potatoes for the fresh market have been the big los- ers. Since the 2008 crop year, white potato shipments have decreased 43.3% according to numbers com- piled by the North American Potato Market News. In that same period, U.S. shipments of yellows were up 44.6%. Russet shipments so far this season mimic closely 2008 although are down 7.7% from 2009 when they hit a 10 year peak. Red potato shipments had been on a steady incline in recent years, but will regress this year because of the short supplies here in the Red River Valley. U.S. red shipments had increased about 14% between 2009 and 2015 crop years. A tote of yellow potatoes recently awaited shipment at A&L Potatoes in East Grand Forks.