Lynn Wilcox, President of Wilcox Fresh, stated, “Idaho weather has been generally favorable for potato growth, although the crop is probably two weeks late from where we’d like to be, but, generally weather conditions have been very good for the last five weeks. We had good supply. We will finish the old crop either Friday of this week or Monday of next week; we will start new crop on Wednesday of next week. We’re going too keep very little break in supply. The quality of the old crop that we’re still running is excellent and we’re anticipating good quality with the new crop.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Ralph Schwartz, Director of Category Management for Potandon Produce LLC, explained quote, “All of our production is delayed due to cool weather and a wet Spring. What’s in the ground is very good but it’s delayed by about two weeks on average in most areas. Current supplies are very poor; people are still depending on some old crop products and quality out of new crop products appears to be pretty good once you get past some of the skinning issues. I think that in a lot of the fields people were very, very primed to harvest early but they found that there’s immaturity in the field, and the ones that they’re waiting a little bit on, they’re finding that the quality is good.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Richard Leibowitz, Managing Director for Specialty Potato Alliance, said, “This year so far has been very good. It’s a little too early to tell in Southern Colorado but Northern Colorado has had the right amount of rain, no frost, and all things look good. Quality this year has absolutely been fabulous. We’ve been blessed with very, very good weather both in Pacific Northwest, in Bakersfield area, and throughout Colorado. Supply currently is down a little bit on colors; I think for the next week or two, the Russian Bananas, the most popular ones, are good but people that need mixes are going to find it a little tight for the next week or so.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
