The Manitoba potato industry — from seed producers to those who grow the main crops — is scrambling to adjust to news that the companies they supply are slashing orders, leaving them facing potentially huge losses, according to a CBC news report.

“I know there’s some seed growers that are gonna get hurt a lot worse than others,” said Mark Peters, who owns Spruce Drive Farms just north of Portage la Prairie, where he grows around 80 hectares (200 acres) of seed potatoes, but calls himself “pretty small” in comparison to other farms in the province.

“Definitely some of the larger seed growers, they’re going to be probably losing at least $1 million, maybe more, [worth] of seed that they have in storage that might not have a home.”

“It was a shock to me, because I was under the impression everything was good. With the weather warming up, we’re able to start shipping our seed to the growers,” he said. 

But just as the wheels were set into motion, they stopped. “That started here last week on Thursday. [We] got a call Friday saying, ‘yeah, we’re gonna have to cut our contract with you by half because we got cut by half from McCains,” Peters said.

McCain Foods Limited and  J.R. Simplot Company are the two biggest buyers of potatoes in the province, using them for a variety of frozen potato products that are supplied to grocery stores.

Source: CBC. Read the full story here
Image: Mark Peters, who owns Spruce Drive Farms just north of Portage la Prairie, stands in a storage facility with mounds of seed potatoes on Tuesday. Credit Mike Arsenault/CBC