Went grocery shopping tonight...got to the potato section and all I saw was bins full of sweet potatoes. Not one red, Yukon gold ,or russet. Saw some 5 pound bags of taters...but nothing loose. Is this from the heat and drought ?

They say heat, drought & trucking shortage's

Saw 1000’s of potatoes spilled on the street a few days ago lol. Graders were out pushing mashed potatoes into a pile

There are items in short supply around here....I am not sure about potatoes thou.

WARNING WARNING DANGER DANGER WILL ROBERTSON !

Below is a link regarding the end of the 2021 potato cycle year for Idaho and Washington, the two states that provide over half of the US production. New crop should be near at hand. Don't know the size of this year's crop yet.

https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/news/2022-08-09/idaho-potato-shortage-harvest-spud

Also there is a world shortage of potatoes which are a mainstay for billions of people. China, India, Russia, Ukraine and the USA are the top 5 producers, we are 5th and most of our potatoes go for snack food.

Bryce

Like everything else that's becoming short , just higher prices.
Make up an excuse and people will believe it.

Only half? I would expect an even greater share of the national output...

LOL, That's Will Robinson!!!!!

Literally tons available here.
Reds,golds or russet $2 for #5 of new crop at the Pig.
Probably cheaper at roadside stands.

LOL , right , my mistake.
Good catch!
LOL 64,000 comedians out of work , and I'm still trying.

The extreme heat reduced yields by nearly 10% for potato growers in Idaho and Washington, while Maine potato yields grew more than 30% thanks to good weather, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In northern Maine, the harvest was so big that growers scrambled to find storage.

Nessmuck

There is lots of taters here, we just had the Munger Potato Festival !
They give away tons of taters every day of it. Several years that I went I got a few 5 pound bags of taters.
Michigan ranks eighth in the nation for potato production with more than 47,000 acres dedicated to growing potatoes.
1.7 billion pounds of potatoes are harvested in Michigan annually. That's a lot of spuds!
Michigan is home to over 80 potato growers most of which are multi-generational family farms.

You like Potato Chips ?
Michigan is the largest producer of potatoes for potato chips production in the country. In fact, Michigan potatoes fill 1 in 4 bags of potato chips in the US.

Hope you find some soon !
*

Crazy. At the Pig here, potato prices more than doubled in the last 2 weeks. A 5lb bag is now $4. $8/10lbs.

Two years ago we had a drought and the yield must have off be a good 20%. Last year we had a bumper crop and it looks like this year is going to shape up the same.

I work for the largest producer of French fries in the world. I can buy 180 pounds of French fries every other week for $12.00. I don't care to ever eat French fries again.

Walmart in Arkansas is over $5 for 5# of taters. My guess is shortage of labor and trucking, not taters.
A tater company from Idaho rents pivots in Western NE as they like the sandy soil. They truck them to Idaho and sell them as Idaho taters.

Glad I'm a low carb eater! LOL

Potato crop here, including my garden LOL, is outstanding. I think it's a transportation issue more than anything. Not enough truckers and ridiculous fuel costs.

This pic is fom last years crop. This year's should be just as good or better. I just randomly stuck my shovel in a row to see how they were coming along.

Like you, I'm surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of potatoes. The last thing on my to-do list is to plant my own spuds. It's not on any of my lists.

Probably true