P.E.I. potato farmers seeing 'very good' crops
Harvest about 3rd of the way through, says chairman of the potato board
Despite a dry summer, it's so far so good for the Island potato harvest, says the chairman of the P.E.I. Potato Board.
Island farmers are about a third of the way through the harvest, and the quality and quantity of spuds seems to be better than expected, said Alex Docherty.
Lots of chips being dug today <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fritolay?src=hash">#fritolay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/peipotatoes?src=hash">#peipotatoes</a> <a href="https://t.co/AtB7HTGof9">pic.twitter.com/AtB7HTGof9</a>
—@msmallman1
"So far what we've been into has been very good, the rounds," he said.
Docherty said there are still some spuds being harvested, but things are good to date.
"The big unknown is the burbank crop, which entails a lot of acres on P.E.I. and it's only really just starting to get harvested now," he said.
"I'm hearing a few guys that are at it are pleasantly surprised also with them, so but there's a big block of acres yet to be dug."
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Harvest16?src=hash">#Harvest16</a> rolling along as the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PEIPotatoes?src=hash">#PEIPotatoes</a> pile up in the 5th bin of the season. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AgProud?src=hash">#AgProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PEI?src=hash">#PEI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FarmLife?src=hash">#FarmLife</a> <a href="https://t.co/gWJHajPZJP">pic.twitter.com/gWJHajPZJP</a>
—@MorganSmallman
Docherty said unlike previous years, the problem of potato tampering doesn't seem to be a big concern this year.
Island potatoes are safer than ever because of extra measures like metal detectors in warehouses, he said.
Check out the crop
Here are some photos of the potato harvest gathered from various social media sites.
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With files from Stephanie Kelly