mn-press-releases
                            MINNESOTA AG NEWS

USDA, NASS                                 MN Dept of Agriculture
MINNESOTA FIELD OFFICE                     PO Box 7068, St. Paul, MN 55107
Douglas Hartwig, Director                  Phone: (651) 296-2230
Homepage: http://www.nass.usda.gov/mn/     E-mail: nass-mn@nass.usda.gov
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                             POTATO STOCKS
                        Released:  May 16, 2008           
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            MINNESOTA POTATO STOCKS 17 PERCENT ABOVE 2007 LEVEL

May 1 Stocks:  Minnesota’s fall potatoes in storage totaled 4.8 million
hundredweight, 17 percent above the May 1, 2007 level, according to USDA,
NASS, Minnesota Field Office.  Stocks in Area 1 totaled 700 thousand
hundredweight, down 30 percent from 2007 and stocks in Area 2 totaled 4.1
million hundredweight, up 32 percent from 2007.


                  MINNESOTA FALL POTATO STOCKS BY REGION 1/
                     May 1, 2007                   May 1, 2008                             
                Stocks        Percent         Stocks         Percent
Type          2006 Crop   of Total Stocks   2007 Crop    of Total Stocks                                                   
              1,000 Cwt                     1,000 Cwt
MN Area 1         1,000          24               700          15
MN Area 2         3,100          76             4,100          85
State Total       4,100         100             4,800         100
1/ Minnesota Area 1 includes the following counties:  Kittson, Roseau, Lake
   of the Woods, Marshall, Beltrami, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, Mahnomen,
   Norman, Clearwater, Clay,Becker and Wilkin counties.  Minnesota Area 2 
   includes all remaining counties in the State.


          FALL POTATOES:  PRODUCTION AND STOCKS ON MAY 1, 2007-2008 1/
                  Crop of 2006                     Crop of 2007
State                Stocks                           Stocks
               	     May 1,      % of                 May 1,      % of                                                          
         Production  2007 2/  Production  Production  2008 2/  Production
         1,000 Cwt  1,000 Cwt   Percent   1,000 Cwt  1,000 Cwt   Percent                                           
CA          3,870        450         12      4,223        460         11
CO         22,686      5,800         26     20,981      4,400         21
ID        128,915     33,000         26    131,650     37,000         28
ME         17,980      5,300         29     16,530      3,950         24
MI         14,190        700          5     14,700      1,600         11
MN         20,400      4,100         20     20,680      4,800         23
MT          3,518                            3,696
NE          8,730      1,400         16      8,051      1,000         12
NY          5,700                            5,216
ND         25,480      4,800         19     23,660      3,900         16
OR         18,533      4,800         26     20,238      6,400         32
WA         89,900     14,000         16    102,300     25,000         24
WI         29,370      4,000         14     28,160      3,700         13

Other
States                   700                              500            
   
13 States 389,272     79,050         20    400,085     92,710         23

Klamath 
Basin 3/                 600                              570


1/ Stocks include processor holdings and most of the seed to plant
   following year’s crop.  Seed usage for all seasons in 2007 totaled
   25.6 million cwt.
2/ Missing stocks combined into "Other States".
3/ Includes potato stocks in CA and Klamath Co. OR.