http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2005/06/23/news/agriculture/ag3.txt

Oregon potato stocks drop by one-third

June 23, 2005

Potato stocks in Oregon totaled 1.8 million hundredweight as of June 1, reflecting a decrease of 38 percent from one year ago, according to a report from the Oregon Agricultural Statistics Service.

This total accounts for 9 percent of the 2004 crop production in Oregon, compared to 14 percent last year at this time. Stocks include potatoes received from other states now being stored in Oregon.

About 58 percent of Oregon stocks were in the Hermiston/ Boardman area as of June 1, while 39 percent were in Malheur County and 2 percent were in Klamath County. The remaining 1 percent were located in the Willamette Valley and in central and northeastern Oregon.

Last year at this time, 85 percent of Oregon's stocks were in the Hermiston/Boardman area and 14 percent were in Malheur County. Klamath County, Willamette Valley and central and northeastern Oregon stocks accounted for 1 percent of the state total at this time last year.

Processors in the nine major states have used 173 million hundred weight of potatoes this season, down 1 percent from a year ago and 4 percent below two years ago. Dehydrating usage accounts for 36 million hundredweight of the total processing, down 8 percent from last year and 11 percent below the same date in 2003.

Processors in Washington and Oregon (excluding Malheur County) used 71.4 million hundredweight of raw potatoes to June 1, down 1 percent compared to last year. Processors in Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon used 65.8 million hundredweight of raw potatoes to June 1, an increase of 3 percent from one year ago.