Canadá: The emerging story on Ontario potatoes

Farmers in the southwestern part of the province planted potato crops last month that are now emerging after hit-and-miss weather through much of April.

Why it matters: Timing of potato planting has varied widely across the province due to less than ideal weather in April.

One grower in the Chatham area planted potatoes on March 21, according to potato specialist Eugenia Banks.

“Spring has not sprung yet in other potato production areas of Ontario, but it’s great to know that the first of the 2023 Ontario potato crop is already in the ground,” Banks said March 22.

By late April, sporadic planting was reported in southern Ontario. Although temperatures during the second week of April were well above 20 C across the province, single digit temperatures and flurries during the weekend of April 22 and 23 were a stark reminder that weather always has the final say.

Planting was slow in the Shelburne-Alliston-Melancthon area in the last week of April, but Banks remarked on the quality of several Russets scheduled for planting. Horizon Russet, a recent arrival from New Brunswick, is an early, white fleshed potato with good tolerance to heat and drought, a long dormancy and yields of nearly 310 hundredweight in 2022.

Banks said the first Envols, an early maturing variety, emerged in Norfolk County earlier this month. Planting was expected to be non-stop with better weather through the middle of May.

She also sent a notice of potato scout training sessions scheduled June 1.