Early potato harvests looking strong for 2026

MOSES LAKE — The Columbia Basin potato harvest season has arrived once again as farmers are deep into their early season harvests and are preparing for the fall harvest.  

“Things look promising,” said Washington Potato Commission Executive Director Chris Voigt. “It’s been very good weather for potato growing. Potatoes like more of the moderate temperatures. They don’t like it really hot, and this spring and early summer were just ideal.” 

Higher temperatures that hit the area toward the end of summer took the top end off the yield, but because those hot days were few and far between, the crops experienced less stress.  

The overall quality for potatoes this year is already showing promising signs for early harvest as the weather was manageable throughout the growing season. With this, and the fact that the basin is a desert environment, farmers could apply the exact amount of water exactly when the plants needed it to optimize growth. 

“That really helps quite a bit compared to other growing areas that get much more rainfall than we do,” said Voigt. “That can be problematic because more rainfall can really affect quality. When you have excess moisture out in the field, it really becomes a haven for disease, bacteria and funguses.” 

The early yields of potatoes began harvesting in the first week of July with the “Direct Delivery” crops, Voigt said.  

These potatoes are typically loaded straight out of the field, onto a truck from the harvester and shipped directly to a potato processor to be made into French fries, hash browns or tater tots or will be taken to a fresh packing shed where they are cleaned, sorted, bagged and taken to grocery stores and restaurants. 

“It was one of the better-looking early season crops we’ve seen in a long time,” he said. “Right now, we’re just kind of doing the early direct deliveries and they look really good.” 

Final numbers for this year’s early season yield were unavailable at the time of publication as harvest continued through the third week of September. 

The bulk of potato harvest takes place from mid-September through the end of October. Voigt said these potatoes are what farmers put into large, atmosphere-controlled storage buildings where they will be held until next year’s crop. 

“We’ll be pulling potatoes out of storage from then until that first week in July, where the new crop starts the cycle all over again,” said Voigt.  

Though there are no official numbers for the potato harvest, given the current yields being harvested, Voigt said he believes the overall yield will be average. This prediction would put this year’s harvest on par with what was seen for the 2025 harvest.  

One of the things that growers have to do in September for the fall harvest, particularly for potatoes going into storage, is to make sure they do test digs and figure out the size of potatoes, he said. Doing this will help ensure processing runs smoothly with even-sized potatoes. 

“Farmers are out there pretty regularly, and they’re out with their processor field department,” said the executive director. “They’re test digging, they’re going out there and sampling potato plants and looking into the potatoes and their sizes.”  

The moment the potatoes reach the proper size, the farmer must turn off the water and make sure the plants are dead. Voigt said this part of the process is extremely important as it helps set the skin on the potato. 

“If you were to dig a potato from a green plant and just rub your thumb on the skin, it would actually come off. It peels really nicely,” said Voigt. “You don’t want a skin that comes off easily if you’re planning on going into storage because just like a human, if you’ve got a cut in your skin, then you’re susceptible to bacteria.” 

Aside from just the crops themselves being ready for harvest, potato farmers have also been getting their equipment and workers ready for the next few weeks of work. Getting the equipment up and running is integral to the process as a potato harvest requires multiple vehicles to get the job done. 

“It’s not like a combine where you harvest the wheat as you drive across the field and then you get to the end of the field and you can offload the combine onto a truck,” he said. “Potato harvest, you need a truck going right along with the harvester. Literally the potatoes are picked up out of the ground and loaded into a truck that’s driving next to the harvester.” 

Along with this, the farmers must ensure they have enough drivers for each piece of equipment —come harvest time. 

“I think everybody is out making sure that their potatoes are the right size and then also getting the equipment ready and hiring drivers and harvest crews,” said Voigt. “That’s kind of what every grower’s focused on right now.”