Alberta's potato industry is booming thanks to a global appetite for french fries

Alberta's potato industry is in the midst of a growth spurt thanks in part to a growing appetite in Asia for french fries and hash browns.

The number of harvested acres of potatoes in Alberta has grown about 35 per cent since 2019, according to Farm Credit Canada, and with McCain Foods doubling the size of its potato processing facility near Coaldale, a town in southern Alberta, the sector is expected to grow even more.

"Generally speaking, it's [looking] very optimistic for the sector going forward," said Leigh Anderson, senior economist with Farm Credit Canada, which provides financing to agricultural producers.

The rise of potato production in Alberta, as well as Manitoba, is shifting the balance of potato power in this country westward. As of 2022, 45.6 per cent of potato production took place in the Prairies and British Columbia, while 35.7 per cent was in Atlantic Canada and 18.7 per cent in Central Canada, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

That year, Alberta even managed to snatch the crown away from Prince Edward Island as the country's top potato-producing province.

The overall economic impact of the sector is now valued at $2.87 billion Cdn, according to analysis from the Potato Growers of Alberta.

Still, as with any agricultural product, the sector faces risk from unpredictable weather patterns — and unpredictable consumer preferences.

The rise of Alberta's potato industry picked up in earnest around the turn of the millennium, when rival french fry makers McCain and Lamb Weston set up processing plants in southern Alberta within about 15 months of one another.

New Brunswick-based Cavendish Farms has also gotten in on the action, buying out rival potato company Maple Leaf Potatoes and spending $430 million to expand its Lethbridge potato processing facility to roughly the size of seven football fields. When the expanded plant opened in 2019, it employed 238 workers.

Today, 73 per cent of the acres of potatoes grown in Alberta are for processing of frozen potato products and potato chips, according to the Potato Growers of Alberta.

(While less significant than the processing side of the industry, Alberta also carries on a brisk business exporting seed potatoes and a small-but-growing industry producing potatoes for consumers, thanks in part to the expansion of Edmonton's Little Potato Company.)

Rising demand for processed Alberta potatoes has been linked to a growing appetite for these products in Asia, according to the Potato Growers of Alberta. The province is exporting potatoes directly to that continent and to the United States to fill some of the need that's opened up as a result of the U.S. sending more potatoes overseas.

"The consumption in Asia and eastern Asia is expected to grow more over the coming years," said Anderson, the FCC economist. "There's lots on the horizon that's good for the sector."

McCain Foods, in particular, is betting big on the future of Alberta potatoes. The Toronto-based manufacturer announced last year it would spend $600 million to double the size of its plant near Coaldale, a rural community about 15 kilometres east of Lethbridge.