Idaho potato production dropped by 5% in 2019 as yield per acre fell by 3.3%, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service reported.

Delayed planting last spring and a hard freeze during fall harvest impacted the crop.

Acres planted and harvested were down from a year earlier in Idaho and Oregon, which saw output drop 16% partly due to a cold, windy harvest.

Washington production rose around 1% as a rise in acreage offset slightly lower yields. Last year’s crop was strong.

Idaho leads the U.S. in potato production, growing one-third of the country’s crop, according to the state Department of Agriculture. Washington ranks second by a wide margin. Oregon this year ranked seventh.

Acres harvested in Idaho totaled 308,782 compared to 311,316 last year, state Potato Commission Industry Relations Director Travis Blacker said.

He said 85% of the state’s crop was harvested when a hard frost hit Oct. 9. “Those potatoes that were harvested (pre-frost) were of great quality.”

Of the 15% of the Idaho crop still in the ground around the state when the freeze hit, 5 to 30% was damaged by frost, Blacker said.

“We will know more as we bring them out from storage and start running them, as to what the percentages are,” he said.