United States' April 1, 2001, potato stocks totaled a record high 154 million cwt, up 20 percent from last year and 17 percent above two years ago.
Potatoes in storage, according to today's report by NASS, accounted for 33 percent of the fall storage states' production, up 2 percentage points from a year ago.
This year's record-high stocks exceeded the previous record set April 1, 1997, by 4 percent. Disappearance from the start of harvest to April 1 was a record high 308 million cwt.
Storage in the three Eastern states was down 14 percent; in the six Central states was up 17 percent, and in the six Western states was up 24 percent from the last two years. Washington's stocks were up 61 percent from a year ago while Idaho's stocks increased 19 percent. Oregon's were up 5 percent, Colorado's up 2 percent, Montana's up 27 percent, and California's down 29 percent.