North Dakota and Minnesota farmers have responded to the increase in demand for yellow potatoes by replacing more than a third of their acres with them.
Consumers have increased their consumption of yellow potatoes as that variety has become more available in grocery stores than other varieties, such as red-colored potatoes, said Kayla Vogel, Potatoes USA senior marketing manager.
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Yellow potatoes made up 14% of volume sales and red potatoes made up 13% in the U.S. during the July- September quarter, according to Potatoes USA. Russet potatoes made up the bulk of sales 鈥� 62%.
In 2023, yellow potatoes made up about 40% of the potatoes grown by Red River Valley farmers in the two states, said Ted Kreis, Northern Plains Potato Growers Association Potato Bytes newsletter editor.
That鈥檚 a 37% increase from about 15 years ago when Red River Valley farmers produced about 120,000 hundredweight of potatoes. In 2023, farmers produced 1.7 million hundredweight of yellow potatoes, resulting in Red River Valley farmers becoming one of the largest yellow potato producers in the United States.
About 7,500 of the 19,000 acres that northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota farmers grow for the fresh market are yellow, said Andy Robinson, North Dakota State University Extension and University of Minnesota Extension potato agronomist.
The increase in yellow acreage in the Red River Valley has been gradual, beginning about 10 years ago, Kreis said.
Total potato acreage, though, in the Red River Valley and in russet production areas, has decreased, which means that yellow potato acres have come at the expense of other colors, such as red and white.
During the past 10 years, the number of variety trials that Robinson oversees has switched from more reds and fewer yellows, to the reverse, reflecting the interest of Red River Valley farmers in growing the latter variety, Robinson said.
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鈥淲hen we first started doing these variety trials eight or nine years ago, we had 20 red varieties and 5 or 10 yellow. That鈥檚 completely changed 鈥� we will have 20 to 25 yellow varieties and 10 reds,鈥� he said.
Many of the yellow potato varieties that U.S. farmers grow were developed in Europe, where that variety dominates table potato production, Robinson said.
Susie Thompson, an NDSU potato breeder, is working on development of a new yellow potato variety, which she describes as 鈥渂eautiful." She hopes to release the variety, which already is being grown on seed potato acreage, in 2024.
鈥淚 feel like it has a lot of promise,鈥� Thompson said.
Most Red River Valley farmers plant a combination of red and yellow acres or have an arrangement with a neighbor to grow one or the other, Robinson said. Some farmers, though, exclusively grow yellow.
It鈥檚 unclear how long the trend for consumer preference of yellow potatoes will continue, whether it will level off or if it will recede, Kreis said. A decrease in yellow potato sales has been expected by industry watchers in the past, but so far that hasn鈥檛 happened.
The consumption of yellow potatoes has been positive for the potato industry, he said.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 really been good for keeping prices stable,鈥� Kreis said, noting that, typically, yellow potatoes fetch a slightly higher price than red potatoes.
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