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M A R C H 2 0 1 610 POTATO GROWER Minnesota Certified Seed Potatoes Winter Test By Jeff Miller Certified Seed Potato Specialist In 2015 6477 acres were entered for certification in Minnesota compared to 6693 acres in 2014 a decrease of 216 acres down 3.2. Of these 5699 acres passed summer certification compared to 5575 acres in 2014 an increase of 124 acres up 2.2. There were 28 seed potato growing operations in Minnesota in 2015. Minnesota seed growers experienced crop challenges for a third year in a row. A few fields got planted earlier than nor- mal but then a colder wetter spring delayed planting three to four weeks on average missing the normal mid-May planting dates. The majority of the acres were planted the last week of May to mid-June. Then the rains came again and some fields did not get planted until the first week of July. As summer pro- gressed some of the growing areas expe- rienced heavy rainfall some reports of 6 8. This combined with the later planting is having an effect on yields. As summer passed into fall harvest got off to a good start. Later on it turned extremely dry in SeptOct and many growers held off harvesting for a few weeks until much needed rains returned to soften up the soil. All said and done some growers have said they had a greater than aver- age yield having to rent warehouses to store their crop but most growers are saying their yields are average or even on the lighter side. The quality of the crop looks very good to excellent though. Dark Red Norland and Red Norland vari- eties had the largest combined acreage in Minnesota at 1734 acres. Other major red-skinned varieties included Test plot on the North Shore of Oahu Hawaii. Winter Test Crop Year 2015 By Acreage Class Entered Eligible Not Eligible Eligible Not Eligible Eligible G1 6.1 6.1 0.00 100 0 100 G2 96.8 95.8 1.0 99 1 91 G3 1783.1 1643.8 139.3 92 8 94 G4 1105.8 981.5 124.3 89 11 75 G5 908.1 783.0 125.1 86 14 78 G6 251.9 137.0 114.9 54 46 56 C 72.3 1.0 71.3 1 99 15 Totals 4224.0 3648.2 575.9 86 14 75 2015 Acres 2014 Acres