WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |ND potato farmers trying to finish harvest
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Associated Press - October 28, 2009 11:44 AM ET
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - Potato growers in the Red River Valley say they've harvested about 95 percent of their crop but still have 4,400 acres of spuds left in the fields.
Ted Kreis is a spokesman for the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association in East Grand Forks, Minn., He says muddy fields have slowed the harvest and left dirt on the potatoes.
Kreis says one harvest machine can get through only about 20 acres a day.
He estimates about half the acres left are Russet potatoes. They are mostly irrigated and sold for french fries and other processed products.
Kreis says yields have been about average, at between 180 and 200 hundred-pound bags per acre for non-irrigated potatoes, and about 450 bags for irrigated potatoes.
He says this week's weather will determine whether those last acres are harvested, and there's a "strong possibility" some will be left.
Information from: Grand Forks Herald, http://www.grandforksherald.com
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