It may be a good sign from a marketing standpoint but Idaho potato plantings are behind schedule this spring.
As of April 30, only 15 percent of the state's potato acres had been planted. This compares to 37 percent last year at this time and to a 27 percent average.
Only 65 percent of the acres had been planted in the southwest portion of the state, compared to 95 percent last year. In the south-central portion of the state only 29 percent had been planted as compared to last year's 75 percent.
In the eastern side of the state, only 4 percent had been planted compared to 15 percent last year.
Many growers are waiting to know exactly what water supplies will be available. Others were waiting word on what the power rate increase would be for pump-irrigators. That rate was set May 1 at 31.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the Idaho Agriculture Statistics Service reported that Idaho's irrigation water supply was 13 percent good, 34 percent fair, 26 percent poor, and 27 percent very poor.