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eye SPUDSMART.COM SUMMER 201540 NEW BRUNSWICK By Louis Ouellette Market Information Co-ordinator Potatoes New Brunswick The 2014 crop held up very well throughout the entire storage season and quality was excellent with next to no storage issues. As of mid-June inventories were still higher than normal on processing and fresh potatoes for this time of the year but with a hopefully busy end to the season we could see these extra potatoes find a proper home. Seed quality has also been excellent for the 2014 crop as it was for the 2013 crop. New Brunswick seed growers worked very diligently in all aspects of their seed growing operations and managed to achieve another very successful year with over 95 per cent of the crop being at or below a three per cent potato virus Y level. The 2015 planting season started around the second week of May and was completed on or about the second week in June which is considered close to normal. It was a strange planting season with all kinds of weather to speak of rain at times light or heavy snow hail and some light frost that at times kept growers off the fields. Rainfall for the month of May would be considered normal to just above normal but that still made for difficult work for some growers who were able to plant only for half a day here and there. The first part of June saw the weather trend continue with a couple of great days followed by an afternoon or evening of rain which delayed growers from completing the spring work. As of mid-June all of the earliest planted fields had good emergence and later scheduled varieties had also started to come up through the ground. Despite the early weather challenges the 2015 crop has been progressing well and early indications are for a successful season. ONTARIO By Peter VanderZaag Owner Sunrise Potato Storage And Eugenia Banks OMAFRA Potato Specialist After a very cold winter spring came quickly in March and it was warm and dry for most of April and especially so for May. This permitted the potato crop to be planted early and it was completed quickly. There were a few surprises like a significant frost at the end of May that did damage some emerged crops. Extremely dry conditions also resulted in some irregular emergence depending on the variety. In first part of June we received lots of rain and cool weather which the potato plants loved. As of mid-June the crop was growing rapidly with row closure and flowering starting for the earlier planted fields. Overall there is optimism for a good crop. By mid-June the old crop was getting cleaned up out of storage. There were still significant quantities of chip stock potatoes in storage all of which had a home. There were still some table stock potatoes being packed. It looks like the new crop will be early but this shouldnt negatively affect the old stored crop which will likely be all cleaned up by this years potato harvest. Late blight remains a threat as it has been present the past two years in many parts of Ontario. Furthermore the discovery of late blight in potatoes on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States adds to the threat. Farmers are encouraged to have all foliage protected by regular fungicide sprays in their regular spray programs this year to prevent late blight infection. The dry weather in May will help to reduce incidence of late blight from possible seed source plant infection in the field. Many questions remain as the growing season unfolds but right now there is a very positive outlook for the 2015 crop.