Origins
Out of seasonCalifornia potato prices
Shipping point FOB prices and shipment volume for California, USDA reports
Data through Jul 10, 2026 · source last checked Nov 4, 2026 · page revised Nov 3, 2026
Cite
- Kern District (CA)
- USDA mostly / low-high range
About this data
- Source
- USDA AMS shipping point potato FOB reports (FV130) and Daily Movement (FV170)
- Series
- Potato FOB price at a benchmark variety, pack and size
- Basis
- FOB shipping point, low-high range
- Geography
- California
- Unit
- $/50 lb carton
- Last observation
- Jul 10, 2026
- Update frequency
- USDA reports on business days
$25.80/50 lb carton (comparison midpoint), 3% below the 5-yr median. California is not currently quoting shipping point prices. Smaller and seasonal potato districts quote intermittently, so a gap is normal rotation, not a data error. Last reported FOB: mostly $24.80-26.80, long white Size A, 50 lb carton, Jul 10, 2026.
California is not currently quoting shipping point prices. Last reported FOB was mostly $24.80-26.80, long white Size A, 50 lb carton, Jul 10, 2026, running 3% below the 5-yr median.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year over year | $25.80/50 lb carton | $26.55/50 lb carton | -2.8% |
| vs 5-yr median | $25.80/50 lb carton | $26.55/50 lb carton | -2.8% |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Kern District (CA) size A potatoes are $25.80, 50 lb carton, mostly $24.80-26.80, down $1.00 from $26.80 on the month. The market sits 3% below the 5-year median of $26.55 per carton.
About California potato prices
California's potato quotes on this site come from three growing areas reported together: the Kern District in the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Central Valley, and the Imperial Valley in the state's southeast corner. It is the country's only source of long white potatoes in USDA's shipping point reports, and it also carries meaningful red and yellow volume, close to an even three-way split across the varieties this site has recorded here.
Nearly all of it ships in 50 lb cartons, with 50 lb sacks and baled consumer bags a smaller share. California is a fresh-crop origin, not a storage one: it plants and digs on its own calendar each year rather than pulling from cellars across the year, so its quotes run for a season and then go quiet until the next one, most visibly on the long white page, where California is the only origin the variety has. Its reds and yellows fill in around the calendar gaps left by the eastern and southern fresh-crop districts; see red and yellow for where California's timing sits against them.
Against the national benchmark. The quotes on this page are California's alone. For the single figure the trade quotes as the market, potato prices today follows Idaho's 70-count russet carton per carton, per hundredweight, per pound and per potato, with the date of USDA's latest quote.
Season. California potatoes typically ship February through September, based on where USDA movement volumes concentrate over the year. Outside that window fresh shipping point quotes thin out, which is normal crop rotation, not a data gap.
Common questions
What is the current price of California potatoes?
California is not quoting shipping point prices right now. Its last USDA quote, on Jul 10, 2026, was Size A long whites in 50 lb cartons at mostly $24.80-26.80/50 lb carton ($49.60-53.60/cwt, $0.496-0.536/lb). Shipments are still moving: USDA logged 73,565 cwt out of California on Oct 30, 2026. The weekly board lists every origin quoting this week.
When does California quote potato prices?
On this site's record since 2021, California shipping point quotes run from May through July. Each district quotes on its own crop calendar, so a quiet stretch is the normal rotation, not a gap in the data.
How do California potato prices compare with last year?
At its last quote on Jul 10, 2026, the long white Size A 50 lb carton midpoint was $25.80/50 lb carton, down 3% from $26.55/50 lb carton a year earlier and 3% below its 5-yr median of $26.55/50 lb carton for the date.
Why do California potato prices change?
California ships a fresh crop, most of it between February and September by USDA movement data, so its price follows how each season's harvest comes in and how its timing overlaps the districts shipping before and after it. In the 12 months to Jul 10, 2026, the long white Size A 50 lb carton midpoint ran from $22.55/50 lb carton (Jul 21, 2025) to $26.80/50 lb carton (May 27, 2026), and it changed on 4 of its 41 report days; the biggest one-day move was +$4.25/50 lb carton on May 27, 2026. What moves potato prices covers the supply side in more depth.
How many potatoes does California ship?
USDA's Daily Movement reports logged 3.8 million cwt of fresh California potato shipments in the 12 months to Oct 30, 2026, across 59 report days, about the same as the 12 months before. By type, that volume was 42% yellow, 24% red and 14% russet. The latest day on record, Oct 30, 2026, logged 73,565 cwt. A hundredweight (cwt) is 100 lb.