Due to a decrease in American potato production, Canadian potato exports to the U.S. rose by 20.8% between 2020 and 2022. The U.S. production fell by 3% in 2022 and 2% in 2021.

Apart from production, the present exchange rate makes USD1 worth CAN1.36. Because American consumers can purchase more Canadian potatoes for every dollar they would spend domestically, exporters benefit from the weaker Canadian dollar, according to a recent The County analysis.

The main crop of Maine is potatoes. The USDA estimates that the state produced 816,466 tonnes of potatoes in 2022, worth at USD247m.

Additionally, potatoes rank first on Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) and second in New Brunswick’s top crops. Potatoes brought CAN178m to New Brunswick and CAN253m to Prince Edward Island in 2022, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. That works out to almost USD186m for P.E.I. and USD130.8m for New Brunswick, assuming current exchange rates hold.

A potato disease forced the island province to stop exporting in 2021, and markets began to depend increasingly on farmers in Maine to meet their demands. However, because they can be purchased for less, Canadian potatoes are already making their way into Northeastern stores.

This year Canadian tubers might have slightly better quality because of Maine’s wet growing and harvest season, but the biggest reason Northeastern markets buy Canadian potatoes is the exchange rate, Kramer Bell of Bell Farms in Mars Hill, declared for the above-mentioned source.

The U.S. produced 20.82m tonnes of potatoes in 2021 and 19.91m in 2022, according to the USDA’s 2022 potato report. Maine ranked 7th and 8th, respectively, among potato-producing states, with 933,747 tonnes in 2021 and 917,420 tonnes in 2022.

In 2021, Canada sent nearly 453,156 U.S. tonnes of fresh and seed potatoes to American markets, according to data from Statistics Canada. That number jumped in 2022 to 610,644 U.S. tonnes.

Moneywise, those potatoes were worth CAN349m, or USD258m, in 2021, and CAN530m, or about USD392m U.S. the following year, according to the data.

This year, the Maine Legislature has discussed several initiatives to support agriculture, such as funding for irrigation and safeguards against per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds that may harm farmers. The Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry published a report in October that said nothing particular to Canadian potato exports.

Not active in other U.S.-Canadian trade areas, the National Potato Council in Washington, D.C., is working on ongoing steps to prevent potato wart from entering the U.S. from P.E.I.