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Potato stocks, held for all purposes on March 1, 2001 by New York growers, dealers, and processors, totaled 700 thousand hundredweight (cwt.), 46 percent less than a year ago. Storage accounted for 12 percent of the 2000 potato crop, down 7 points from the previous year.

The 15 major potato States held a record high 198 million cwt. of potatoes on March 1, 2001, up 17 percent from last year and 5 percent above the previous record set March 1, 1997. Potatoes in storage accounted for 43 percent of the 2000 fall storage States' production, up 3 percentage points from a year ago.

Eastern States stored 10.1 million cwt. of potatoes on March 1, 2001, down 11 percent from a year ago but 2 percent above two years ago. Maine's holdings were down 7 percent from last year. Pennsylvania's storage was equal to last year.

Central States accounted for 38.6 million cwt. of potato stocks this March 1, 19 percent above March 2000 but 1 percent below 1999. Minnesota's stocks were up 63 percent and the Nebraska-Ohio combination was up 52 percent. Stocks in North Dakota were up 23 percent from last year. Wisconsin's stocks were down 1 percent and Michigan's potato stocks were 19 percent below a year ago.

Western States held 150 million cwt. of potatoes in storage on March 1, 2001, up 19 percent from last year and 20 percent above 1999. Washington's potato stocks were up 43 percent from a year ago, while Idaho's stocks increased 15 percent, and Oregon's were up 12 percent. Colorado's stocks were up 1 percent from last year and Montana was up 11 percent. California's potato stocks were down 28 percent from a year ago.

Disappearance from the start of harvest to March 1 was a record high 264 million cwt. This disappearance was up 5 percent from last year and 4 percent above the previous record set during the 1996 season. The disappearance during February was 36.7 million cwt., down 2 percent from the record high February disappearance established last year. Shrink and loss to this point in the season was 31.5 million cwt., up 26 percent from last year and 27 percent above two years ago. This disappearance and loss total includes potatoes diverted and destroyed by growers under a cooperative program to reduce surpluses.

Processing of 2000 crop potatoes totaled 132 million cwt. to March 1, up 2 percent from the 1999 crop and 1 percent above two years ago in comparable States. In February, processors used 18.6 million cwt. of potatoes, down 8 percent from last year in comparable States.