Statistics Canada has published the preliminary production estimates for the 2011 potato crop in Canada.

The Canadian potato production is estimated at 92,653,000 hundredweight (4 202 740 tonnes).

This is down 4% from last year's revised production.

The decreased production was mainly due to decreased yields.

The 2011 yield was estimated to be 266.1 hundredweight per acre (29.83 tonnes per hectare) which is down 6% from 2010.

Area planted was set at 361,100 acres (146 137 hectares), up 1 % from 2010 and area harvested at 348,200 acres (140 917 hectares) up 2 %.

Ontario experienced the greatest decrease from the previous year with yields down 19%, while New Brunswick yields were down 17%.

British Columbia showed the greatest increase from last year, up 68%, as they returned to a more normal harvest season after a very difficult fall in 2010.

For the third year in a row, the value of the Canadian potato crop broke the billion dollar mark to come in at $1.1 billion, unchanged from the previous year's crop.

The average value on all potatoes sold, consumed, seeded or fed to livestock was $11.58 per hundredweight ($255.19 per tonne), compared to $11.27 per hundredweight ($248.40 per tonne) the previous year.