Manitoba potato growers are feeling the impact of COVID-19.
Dan Sawatzky is Manager of Keystone Potato Producers Association.
"Acreage will be down this year," he said. "An estimate might be in that 67,000 range, which is similar to a couple years back. We are seeing demand for fries diminishing, certainly with the COVID-19 virus, people are staying home more and a lot of our product goes through quick service restaurants and even the sit down restaurants, and they're all closed. Obviously, we're seeing a real shutdown of a lot of that market."
Sawatzky says they are seeing an increase in retail fry sales, however it's small compared to the loss at restaurants.
He's hoping to see a rebound in 2020, as roughly 12,000 acres of potatoes were left unharvested last fall.
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