BISMARCK — Final production for the 2016 potato crop totaled 21.6 million hundredweight (cwt), down 22 percent from 2015, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Planted acres for 2016 totaled 80,000, down 2 percent from 2015. Harvested area, at 72,000 acres, is down 10 percent from the previous year. Yield for all potatoes averaged 300 cwt in 2016, 45 cwt per acre lower than the 2015 record high yield.

The value of potatoes sold from the 2016 crop totaled $199 million, down 14 percent from 2015. The marketing year average price tied the record high at $10.30 per cwt, up from $9.25 for the 2015 crop.

Potatoes sold from the 2016 crop totaled 19.3 million cwt, down 22 percent from 2015. Sales accounted for 89 percent of production, down 1 percent from the 2015 crop.

— USDA NASS

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