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 Aug 28, 2026 · page revised Aug 28, 2026
Cite
- Kern District (CA) (size a)
- Kern District (CA) (size a)
- 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 between windows and not currently quoting shipping point prices. Last reported FOB was mostly $24.80-26.80, long white size a, 50 lb carton, on Jul 10, 2026, down 2.8 percent year over year and 3 percent below the 5-year 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.
Season. California potatoes typically ship January through August, 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.