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                               POTATO REPORT

                               February 2008

          Released February 2009
    Seasonal                                               No. 987-2-09

                      NEW YORK POTATO STOCKS DECREASE

Potato stocks, held for all purposes on February 1, 2009 by New York
growers, dealers, and processors, totaled 1.20 million hundredweight
(cwt.), down 25 percent from last year according to Steve Ropel, Director
of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office.
 Disappearance in January 2009 at 600,000 cwt., up 20 percent from last
year.  Storage accounted for 21 percent of the 2008 potato production, down
10 percent from a year ago.

The 13 major potato States held 183 million cwt of potatoes in storage
February 1, 2009, down 8 percent from a year ago and 5 percent below
February 1, 2007.  Potatoes in storage accounted for 50 percent of the 2008
fall storage States' production, unchanged from February 1, 2008.  Stocks
by type were 3.4 percent red, 8.3 percent round white, 3.2 percent long
white (Shepody), 1.7 percent yellows, and 83.4 percent russets.

Potato disappearance, at 185 million cwt, was 7 percent below February 1,
2008 and 6 percent below 2007.  Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 16.9
million cwt, was down 8 percent from both the same date in 2008 and 2007.

 Processors in the 9 major States have used 99.2 million cwt of potatoes
this season, down 7 percent from the same period last year and down 8
percent from 2 years ago.  Dehydrating usage accounted for 18.4 million cwt
of the total processing, down 13 percent from last year and 22 percent
below the same period in 2007.

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

                       Crop of 2007                        Crop of 2008

    State                 Stocks    Percent              Stocks     Stocks   February
             Production  Feb. 1,      of     Production  Jan. 1,   Feb. 1,  Percent of
                           2008   Production              2009       2009   Production
                   1,000 cwt.       Percent            1,000 cwt.             Percent

  CA               3,792     1,400    37          3,939     1,500      1,300    33
  CO              20,981    11,200    53         21,338    14,500     12,500    59
  ID             130,010    71,500    55        114,805    73,500     64,000    56
  ME              16,668     9,700    58         14,769    10,000      8,500    58
  MI              14,700     5,300    36         14,875     6,500      5,000    34
  MN 2/           21,560     9,900    46         20,400    11,800     10,600    52
  MT               3,696     3,400    92          3,465     3,300      3,200    92
  NE 2/            8,217     3,700    45          8,342     4,700      4,000    48
  NY               5,216     1,600    31          5,696     1,800      1,200    21
  ND              23,660    10,000    42         22,680    12,500     10,300    45
  OR              20,293    13,900    68         18,676    14,100     12,000    64
  WA             100,800    43,800    43         93,000    43,800     38,600    42
  WI              28,160    13,900    49         25,730    14,800     12,000    47

  13 States      397,753   199,300    50        367,715   212,800    183,200    50

  Klamath
Basin 3/                     2,700                          3,300      2,800

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 24.5 million cwt.
2/   January 1, 2009 stocks revised.
3/   Includes potato stocks in CA and Klamath Co., OR.  Included in the 13 State
total.