Origins
Well above normalIdaho potato prices
Shipping point FOB prices and shipment volume for Idaho, USDA reports
Data through Nov 3, 2026 · source last checked Nov 4, 2026 · page revised Nov 4, 2026
Cite
- Upper Valley / Twin Falls-Burley (ID) (norkotah)
- Upper Valley / Twin Falls-Burley (ID) (burbank)
- 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
- Idaho
- Unit
- $/50 lb carton
- Last observation
- Nov 3, 2026
- Update frequency
- USDA reports on business days
$24.00-25.00/50 lb carton, 104% above the 5-yr median. Comparison midpoint: $24.50/50 lb carton.
Idaho russets mostly $24.00-25.00, 50 lb carton, up $3.00 on the month and 104% above the 5-year median. Year-over-year the move is $17.50.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | $24.50/50 lb carton | $24.00/50 lb carton | +2.1% |
| Month over month | $24.50/50 lb carton | $21.50/50 lb carton | +14.0% |
| Year over year | $24.50/50 lb carton | $7.00/50 lb carton | +250.0% |
| vs 5-yr median | $24.50/50 lb carton | $12.00/50 lb carton | +104.2% |
Previous weeks
Week of Oct 30, 2026
Idaho Norkotah and Burbank russets mostly $24.00/50 lb carton, double the 5-year median of $12.00. Month over month prices rose 14.3%, and year over year they climbed 242.9%.
An earlier week
Idaho russets mostly $24.00, 50 lb carton, 100% above the 5-year median. Prices firmed 2.1% on the week, with month-over-month gains at 14.3%.
Week of Oct 22, 2026
Idaho russets mostly $23.00-24.00/50 lb carton, up 0.50 on the week. Prices stand 96% above the 5-year median, with month-over-month gains at 14.6% and year-over-year gains at 235.7%.
An earlier week
Idaho russet potatoes are mostly $23.00/50 lb carton, running 92% above the five-year median. Prices rose 2.2% week over week and 12.2% month over month, with year-over-year gains of 217.2% reflecting substantially tighter conditions than a year prior.
About Idaho potato prices
Idaho is the country's largest potato-producing state, and its FOB quotes here come from the Upper Snake River Valley: the Twin Falls-Burley district and the Upper Valley around Idaho Falls and Rexburg. It is the nation's number one russet region, and every quote this site has on record for Idaho has been a russet. No other origin on this site is that single-variety.
Idaho digs in the fall, cures the crop in storage, and ships it out for most of the year rather than in one short window, the same storage-region pattern as the Columbia Basin, San Luis Valley and Wisconsin. Most of what Idaho grows goes to processors, fry plants and dehydrators, under contract at prices nobody publishes. What shows up in USDA shipping point reports, and on this page, is the fresh tablestock slice: mostly 50 lb cartons sold by count, the ladder from a 40-count baker down to 100-count small stock, plus sacks and baled consumer bags. See the carton-count spread for what moving up or down that ladder is worth, and the russet page for how Idaho compares with the other three storage regions.
Idaho potatoes by the sack. Idaho quoted four kinds of 50 lb sack on Nov 3, 2026, from $11.50-12.00/50 lb sack for US No. 2 Burbank russets (6 oz minimum) to $19.00/50 lb sack for US No. 2 Burbank russets (10 oz minimum). Per pound that runs from $0.23-0.24/lb to $0.38/lb, and per 60 lb bushel from $13.80-14.40 to $22.80. The 50 lb sack price calculator converts any of these quotes per sack, pound, bushel and hundredweight, and potato sack prices by origin sets them against the other districts.
The national benchmark. Idaho's 70-count russet Norkotah carton out of the Upper Valley is the price the fresh trade quotes as the market: potato prices today follows it per carton, per hundredweight, per pound and per potato, with the date of USDA's latest quote.
Season. Idaho potatoes typically ship February through October, 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 Idaho potatoes?
Idaho 70-count Norkotah russets in 50 lb cartons sold for $24.00-25.00/50 lb carton ($48.00-50.00/cwt, $0.48-0.50/lb) FOB at the shipping point on Nov 3, 2026, per USDA shipping point reports. Across the count ladder that day, 40-count cartons sold for mostly $25.00-26.00/50 lb carton and 100-count cartons for mostly $12.50-13.00/50 lb carton. The same day, Idaho quoted Size A reds in 50 lb cartons at mostly $17.00/50 lb carton, US No. 2 Norkotah russets (10 oz minimum) in 50 lb sacks at mostly $18.00-19.00/50 lb sack and Non Size A Norkotah russets in 10×5 lb bales at $6.00-7.00/10×5 lb bale. These are wholesale prices for potatoes loaded at the packing shed, before freight, not grocery prices.
How do Idaho potato prices compare with last year?
At range midpoints, the russet 70-count 50 lb carton is $24.50/50 lb carton, up 250% from $7.00/50 lb carton a year earlier and 104% above its 5-yr median of $12.00/50 lb carton for the date. That is the Norkotah quote the chart and table above track.
Why do Idaho potato prices change?
Idaho ships out of storage for most of the year, so its price moves in steps through the storage season as shippers and buyers read how much is left in the cellars and how it is keeping, and the new crop sets the next level once digging starts. In the 12 months to Nov 3, 2026, the russet 70-count 50 lb carton midpoint ran from $5.00/50 lb carton (May 11, 2026) to $24.50/50 lb carton (Nov 2, 2026), and it changed on 36 of its 223 report days; the biggest one-day move was +$5.50/50 lb carton on Aug 10, 2026. What moves potato prices covers the supply side in more depth.
How many potatoes does Idaho ship?
USDA's Daily Movement reports logged 35.7 million cwt of fresh Idaho potato shipments in the 12 months to Nov 2, 2026, across 248 report days, 2% less than the 12 months before. By type, that volume was 90% russet, 6% yellow and 3% red. The latest day on record, Nov 2, 2026, logged 172,538 cwt. A hundredweight (cwt) is 100 lb.