Origins
Well above normalColumbia Basin potato prices
Shipping point FOB prices and shipment volume for Columbia Basin, USDA reports
Data through Nov 3, 2026 · source last checked Nov 4, 2026 · page revised Nov 4, 2026
Cite
- Columbia Basin (WA) - Umatilla Basin (OR)
- 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
- Columbia Basin
- Unit
- $/50 lb carton
- Last observation
- Nov 3, 2026
- Update frequency
- USDA reports on business days
Mostly $21.00/50 lb carton, 100% above the 5-yr median. Comparison midpoint: $21.00/50 lb carton.
Columbia Basin mostly $21.00/50 lb carton sits 100% above the 5-year median. Month over month price rose 23.5%, and year over year it has moved up 200%.
| 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
Columbia Basin potatoes mostly $21.00 per 50 lb carton, up 23.5% on the month from $17.00. Year over year the price is up 200% from $7.00, and it now sits 100% above the 5-year median.
Week of Oct 30, 2026
Columbia Basin mostly $21.00/50 lb carton, double the 5-year median of $10.50. Year ago, the market stood at $7.00/carton.
An earlier week
Columbia Basin potatoes mostly $21.00/50 lb carton, up 7.7% on the week and 23.5% on the month. Pricing runs 100% above the 5-year median per USDA reports.
Week of Oct 23, 2026
Columbia Basin russet FOB runs $18.00-21.00, 50 lb carton, up strongly on the week and 86% above the 5-year median. Year-over-year, the market has more than trebled from last season's $7.00 level, per USDA data through October 23.
About Columbia Basin potato prices
The Columbia Basin origin combines two USDA reporting districts into one: the Columbia Basin of central Washington and the Umatilla Basin across the river in northeastern Oregon. Together they are one of the country's largest russet regions and, like Idaho, a heavy processing area, with much of the crop contracted to fry and dehydration plants at prices nobody publishes, so the fresh tablestock quotes here are a slice of a much bigger crop.
Every quote this site has on record for the Columbia Basin is a russet, sold mostly in 50 lb cartons by count, with baled consumer bags and 50 lb sacks behind it. It is a storage region, digging in the fall and shipping fresh cartons out of controlled-atmosphere cellars across most of the year rather than in one short season, the pattern it shares with Idaho, the San Luis Valley and Wisconsin. Movement reported simply as "Washington" in USDA's daily movement data folds into this origin. Read it against the other three storage regions on the russet page rather than against a fresh-crop origin.
Columbia Basin potatoes by the sack. Columbia Basin's 50 lb sacks of US No. 2 Norkotah russets (10 oz minimum) sold for $11.00/50 lb sack on Nov 3, 2026, which is $0.22/lb or $13.20 for a 60 lb bushel. 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.
Against the national benchmark. The quotes on this page are Columbia Basin'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. Columbia Basin 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 Columbia Basin potatoes?
Columbia Basin 70-count Norkotah russets in 50 lb cartons sold for mostly $21.00/50 lb carton ($42.00/cwt, $0.42/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 $21.00/50 lb carton and 100-count cartons for $11.00-12.00/50 lb carton. The same day, the Columbia Basin quoted US No. 2 Norkotah russets (10 oz minimum) in 50 lb sacks at $11.00/50 lb sack and Norkotah russets in 10×5 lb bales at mostly $6.00/10×5 lb bale. These are wholesale prices for potatoes loaded at the packing shed, before freight, not grocery prices.
How do Columbia Basin potato prices compare with last year?
At range midpoints, the russet 70-count 50 lb carton is $21.00/50 lb carton, up 200% from $7.00/50 lb carton a year earlier and 100% above its 5-yr median of $10.50/50 lb carton for the date. That is the Norkotah quote the chart and table above track.
Why do Columbia Basin potato prices change?
The Columbia Basin 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 $6.00/50 lb carton (Feb 17, 2026) to $21.00/50 lb carton (Oct 26, 2026), and it changed on 21 of its 248 report days; the biggest one-day move was +$2.50/50 lb carton on Aug 3, 2026. What moves potato prices covers the supply side in more depth.
How many potatoes does the Columbia Basin ship?
USDA's Daily Movement reports logged 4.8 million cwt of fresh Columbia Basin potato shipments in the 12 months to Nov 2, 2026, across 248 report days, 14% more than the 12 months before. By type, that volume was 91% russet, 5% yellow and 3% red. The latest day on record, Nov 2, 2026, logged 21,954 cwt. A hundredweight (cwt) is 100 lb.