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41SUMMER 2015 SPUDSMART.COM MANITOBA By Dan Sawatzky General Manager Keystone Potato Producers Association The 2015 planting season in Manitoba began earlier than normal and well ahead of the past two seasons. The majority of the processing crop was put in the ground during the last week of April and the first week of May. A cool wet May resulted in minor reseeding and some delays in planting completion. Despite delayed crop emergence and some frost damage mid-June crop progress was on average about four days ahead of normal. Rainfall in the early seeded areas was timely with some areas initiating irrigation during the second week of June. An exception was the Shilo Douglas area where lighter soils have a greater water requirement and water application generally begins sooner there than elsewhere. The central region had adequate moisture as of mid-June. Another positive change this year was the increase in contract volume following two consecutive years of decreases. Previous investment in buildings and equipment can be utilized which helps in gaining back some efficiencies. With the earlier planting the percentage increase in planted acreage is not anticipated to match the increase in contracted volume percentage due to a higher yield expectation. Growers realize that surplus production is often a burden to market and therefore have attempted to match production with contract volumes. Following planting the focus shifts to managing the rapidly growing crop. Scouting for weeds insects and disease is ongoing. Managing fertility and irrigation to optimize yield and quality demands attention throughout the summer. Production from the 2014 crop continues to store well and should be processed by the time the new crop is ready. Surplus has been manageable and is spoken for by our local processors. If the spring was any indication of the rest of the season we are hopeful that Manitoba producers will face less weather challenges than the previous couple of years. ALBERTA By Terence Hochstein Executive Director Potato Growers of Alberta Alberta experienced a relatively open and dry winter and as a result the planting season got off to a relatively early start. By mid-June most areas were about 10 days to two weeks ahead of a normal growing season although the central and northern seed-growing areas were in need of some moisture to keep the development of the crop going. By June 20 many of the southern irrigated acres had row closure. Some wind and hail damage in early June had set some crops back but it was early enough in the growing season to anticipate a full recovery. Overall the total planted acres in Alberta will be down somewhat this year from last as there is a slight reduction in processing acres and some seed growers have exited the business. On the fresh side we are anticipating a slight increase with some new growers entering the creamer market with Edmontons Little Potato Company. With Albertas early start and a little help from Mother Nature our growers are looking forward to getting back to producing a high-yielding high-gravity and excellent-quality crop that we are accustomed to supplying the processors. Alberta growers continue to focus on our spore trapping and late blight monitoring programs in hopes of regaining our prized late blight free status. This is a tall order but one that the scientific community in the province feels is attainable.