E-mail: nass-ny@nass.usda.gov
(518) 457-5570

                                  POTATOES

______________________________________________________________________________________________________



Released January 2009
Seasonal                                                No. 987-1-09

                   NEW YORK POTATO STOCKS DOWN 14 PERCENT

Potato stocks held for all purposes on January 1, 2009 by New York growers,
dealers, and processors totaled 1.80 million hundredweight (cwt.), down 14
percent from last year.  The New York Agricultural Statistics Service
estimated disappearance during the month of December at 800,000 cwt. the
same as a year earlier.  Storage accounted for 32 percent of the 2008
potato production, down from last year's January 1 storage of 40 percent.

The 13 major potato States held 213 million cwt of potatoes in storage
January 1, 2009, down 9 percent from a year ago and 6 percent below January
1, 2007.  Potatoes in storage accounted for 58 percent of the 2008 fall
storage States' production, down 1 point from January 1, 2008.  Klamath
Basin stocks totaled 3.30 million cwt on January 1, 2009, down 3 percent
from a year ago.  Klamath Basin stocks include potatoes stored in
California and Klamath County, Oregon.

Potato disappearance, at 155 million cwt, was 5 percent below both January
1, 2008 and 2007. Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 14.8 million cwt, was
down 10 percent from the same date in 2008 and 8 percent below 2007.

Processors in the 9 major States have used 87.3 million cwt of potatoes
this season, down 3 percent from the same period last year and down 4
percent from 2 years ago. Dehydrating usage accounted for 14.6 million cwt
of the total processing, down 13 percent from last year and 24 percent
below the same period in 2007.

                 FALL POTATOES:  Production and Stocks on
                        January 1, 2008-2009 1/

                       Crop of 2007                        Crop of 2008

State                 Stocks   Percent             Stocks    Stocks   January
         Production  Jan. 1,     of    Production  Dec. 1,   Jan. 1,  Percent of
                       2008  Production             2008      2009   Production
              1,000 cwt.       Percent            1,000 cwt.          Percent

CA         3,792      1,600     42         3,939     1,900    1,500     38
CO        20,981     13,200     63        21,338    16,400   14,500     68
ID       130,010     82,000     63       114,805    83,000   73,500     64
ME 2/     16,668     11,400     68        14,769    11,300   10,000     68
MI        14,700      7,000     48        14,875     8,300    6,500     44
MN        21,560     11,600     54        20,400    13,000   11,300     55
MT         3,696      3,400     92         3,465     3,400    3,300     95
NE         8,217      4,500     55         8,342     5,500    4,900     59
NY         5,216      2,100     40         5,696     2,600    1,800     32
ND        23,660     12,500     53        22,680    14,800   12,500     55
OR        20,293     16,100     79        18,676    16,100   14,100     75
WA       100,800     52,000     52        93,000    49,500   43,800     47
WI        28,160     16,700     59        25,730    17,500   14,800     58

13 Sts2/ 397,753    234,100     59       367,715   243,300  212,500     58

Klamath
Basin 3/              3,400                         4,000     3,300

1/Stocks include processor holdings and most of the seed to plant the following
  year's crop.
  Seed usage for all seasons in 2008 totaled 24.6 million cwt.
2/December 1, 2008, stocks revised.
3/Estimates began in December 2006.  Includes potato stocks in CA and Klamath Co.
  Oregon.