Idaho Weather/Crop update for 2019/20 season.

A report from Idaho shippers the we received as follows: 

Dear Valued Customer,
As you may have heard or have seen, Idaho is experiencing record breaking cold weather this week. A
significant freeze began late last night, and it is supposed to last through Friday. While the reports and
variations of temperatures reported will vary, the temperatures are severe enough that the Idaho Potato
crop will be affected. We have not experienced weather like this during a harvest for over 30 years.
The affects of this freeze will take weeks if not months to fully be recognized and there is still much
unknown at this time. What we do know, is that a significant amount of the late storage crop Idaho
potatoes are still in the ground and those near the surface of the soil will freeze and breakdown. Our
nighttime lows are in the mid-teens and our daytime highs are not significant enough to warm the soil
during the day, before the lows settle back in.
We will leave our crops untouched in the fields during these 2-3 days of very cold temperatures and then
we will resume harvest this weekend and will push to get the balance of the crop harvested and in long
term storage by the end of next week. As that product is made dormant in storage, those potatoes
affected by the freeze will breakdown and die off and that is what will take weeks if not months to occur.
Because of this, there is much uncertainty in how market conditions will react. We anticipate some of the
greatest affects of the freeze to surface in the supply outlook this coming Spring and Summer.
Our commitment to take care of our customers is priority #1 and we feel confident in our ability to
manage our supply and see that our customers are affected as little as possible by this freeze. Much of
the potato harvest was completed before this freeze so we will forecast and allocate our supply on hand
to keep our production consistent and do our best to ensure we have steady supply available throughout
the 2019-2020 shipping season.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are thankful for and
appreciate your continued support and concern. We will continue to share information as we learn more
and as we are able to better recognize the long term affects of this severe weather.