Varieties
Well above normalRusset potato prices
Russet potato FOB across origins, 70-count 50 lb carton, USDA shipping point reports
Data through Nov 3, 2026 · source last checked Nov 4, 2026 · page revised Nov 4, 2026
Cite
- Columbia Basin
- San Luis Valley
- Idaho
- Wisconsin
About this data
- Source
- USDA AMS shipping point potato FOB reports (FV130)
- Series
- Russet potatoes, FOB per hundredweight
- Basis
- FOB shipping point, per hundredweight
- Geography
- Across US growing origins
- Unit
- $/50 lb carton
- Last observation
- Nov 3, 2026
- Update frequency
- USDA reports on business days
Russet potatoes sold for mostly $21.00/50 lb carton ($42.00/cwt, $0.42/lb) FOB at the shipping point on Nov 3, 2026, for 70-count Norkotah russets out of the Columbia Basin, per USDA shipping point reports. In 50 lb sacks, US No. 2 Norkotah russets (10 oz minimum) out of the Columbia Basin sold for $11.00/50 lb sack ($22.00/cwt, $0.22/lb) on Nov 3, 2026. At $21.00/50 lb carton, the 70-count 50 lb carton midpoint is 100% above its 5-yr median for the date.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | $21.00/50 lb carton | $21.00/50 lb carton | 0.0% |
| Month over month | $21.00/50 lb carton | $17.00/50 lb carton | +23.5% |
| Year over year | $21.00/50 lb carton | $7.00/50 lb carton | +200.0% |
| vs 5-yr median | $21.00/50 lb carton | $10.50/50 lb carton | +100.0% |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Russet potatoes, 70-count, 50 lb carton, mostly $21.00 on Oct 29, up 7.7% on the week and 23.5% on the month. The price sits 100% above the 5-year median. Idaho russets trade at $24.00 and San Luis Valley $22.00, both above Columbia Basin levels.
Week of Oct 22, 2026
Russet 70-count cartons mostly $18.00-21.00/50 lb carton on Oct 22, up 14.7% on the week and trading 85.7% above the 5-year median for the date. Idaho moved higher at $23.50/50 lb carton, with San Luis Valley at $21.00 and the Columbia Basin at $19.50. Strength reflects limited supply relative to normal seasonal levels, per USDA shipping point reports.
An earlier week
Russet potatoes, 70-count 50 lb carton, mostly $18.00-21.00 FOB at the shipping point on Oct 21, up 14.7% on the week. The $19.50 midpoint runs 86% above its 5-year median for the date.
An earlier week
Russet Norkotah 70-count cartons out of the Columbia Basin traded at $19.50/50 lb carton, mostly $18.00-21.00, on Oct 20, per USDA shipping point reports. The carton rose 14.7% on the week and sits 86% above the 5-yr median for the date.
About Russet potato prices
Per pound and per bushel. At the 50 lb sack quote above, $11.00/50 lb sack for US No. 2 Norkotah russets (10 oz minimum) out of the Columbia Basin on Nov 3, 2026, russets work out to $0.22/lb and $13.20 for a 60 lb bushel at the shipping point. The 50 lb sack price calculator converts any live USDA sack quote per sack, pound, bushel and hundredweight, and potato sack prices by origin lists every one.
The russet is the potato the rest of the market is read against. It runs about 70 percent of US planted acres, by USDA's Economic Research Service, and it is the potato behind the baked potato and the fry. Four storage regions quote it in almost every week of the year: Idaho, the Columbia Basin across Washington and Oregon, Colorado's San Luis Valley and Wisconsin. All four dig in the fall, cure the crop and ship out of storage for months, which is why russet quotes rarely go quiet the way a fresh-crop variety's do.
Most fry and dehydration volume never reaches this page. That tonnage is contracted with processors before the season at prices nobody publishes. What the FOB prices here cover is the fresh tablestock trade, the cartons, sacks and consumer bags that go to grocery and foodservice.
Russets are size-graded by count, the number of potatoes it takes to fill a 50 lb carton, so a 40-count is a big baker and a 100-count is small stock. See the carton-count spread for what that ladder is worth per hundredweight. Because the supply base is deep and russet demand is steady, russet prices usually move in slower, longer steps than reds or yellows do, and the shape of a russet year is a storage-year shape: prices work off the pile as the cellars draw down, then reset when new crop starts relieving the old. For where the russet price sits against reds on the same day, per hundredweight, see red potatoes vs russet.
The national benchmark. One russet spec stands in for the whole fresh market: 70-count Norkotahs in 50 lb cartons out of Idaho's Upper Valley. Potato prices today follows that one series per carton, per hundredweight, per pound and per potato.
Common questions
What is the current russet potato price?
Russet potatoes sold for mostly $21.00/50 lb carton ($42.00/cwt, $0.42/lb) FOB at the shipping point on Nov 3, 2026, for 70-count Norkotah russets out of the Columbia Basin, per USDA shipping point reports. In 50 lb sacks, US No. 2 Norkotah russets (10 oz minimum) out of the Columbia Basin sold for $11.00/50 lb sack ($22.00/cwt, $0.22/lb) on Nov 3, 2026. USDA publishes a range rather than a single figure, and the chart above compares that same pack across every origin currently quoting it.
Which origins ship russet potatoes?
Columbia Basin, San Luis Valley, Idaho and Wisconsin are the districts quoting russet potatoes at the 70-count 50 lb carton benchmark on this page. Each district runs its own season, so which origins appear changes through the year. The US potato calendar covers the handoffs, and the origin pages carry each district on its own.
Why is the price shown as a range?
Because that is what USDA publishes. A shipping point quote is a low-high range across the confirmed sales for that origin, pack and grade, and where the volume supports it USDA also prints a tighter mostly range where the bulk of the trading landed. A single number would be a midpoint nobody actually paid. How to read the USDA National Potato and Onion Report walks through one line field by field.
Is this a retail price?
No. FOB means free on board at the shipping point: the potatoes loaded on a truck at the packing shed, before a mile of freight. A grocery price adds the haul, the wholesaler, the retailer's margin and shrink on top, and it moves far more slowly than the FOB quote does.