Varieties
Well above normalRed potato prices
Red potato FOB across origins, Size A 50 lb sack, USDA shipping point reports
Data through Nov 3, 2026 · source last checked Nov 4, 2026 · page revised Nov 4, 2026
Cite
- Wisconsin
- Red River Valley
- Minnesota
- Florida
- Virginia
- North Carolina
- Delaware
About this data
- Source
- USDA AMS shipping point potato FOB reports (FV130)
- Series
- Red potatoes, FOB per hundredweight
- Basis
- FOB shipping point, per hundredweight
- Geography
- Across US growing origins
- Unit
- $/50 lb sack
- Last observation
- Nov 3, 2026
- Update frequency
- USDA reports on business days
Red potatoes sold for $14.00-16.00/50 lb sack ($28.00-32.00/cwt, $0.28-0.32/lb) FOB at the shipping point on Nov 3, 2026, for Size A reds out of the Red River Valley, per USDA shipping point reports. At $15.00/50 lb sack, the Size A 50 lb sack midpoint is 33% above its 5-yr median for the date.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | $15.00/50 lb sack | $15.50/50 lb sack | -3.2% |
| Month over month | $15.00/50 lb sack | n/a | n/a |
| Year over year | $15.00/50 lb sack | $11.25/50 lb sack | +33.3% |
| vs 5-yr median | $15.00/50 lb sack | $11.25/50 lb sack | +33.3% |
Previous weeks
Week of Oct 30, 2026
Size A red potatoes are $15.00-16.00 per 50 lb sack FOB out of the Red River Valley and Wisconsin, flat on the week. The midpoint sits 38% above its 5-year median for the date and is up 37.8% year over year.
An earlier week
Red potatoes sold for $15.00-16.00/50 lb sack, Size A, at $15.50 midpoint through Oct 29, flat week over week. Year over year the Size A 50 lb sack is up 37.8%, and at the midpoint sits 38% above the 5-yr median for the date. The Red River Valley is quoted $15.50 and Wisconsin $15.
An earlier week
Red potatoes mostly $15.00-16.00/50 lb sack, Size A, FOB at the shipping point on Oct 28, 2026, sit 38% above their 5-year median for the date, per USDA shipping point reports. Year-over-year pricing is up 40.9%. The market held week over week.
Week of Oct 23, 2026
Red River Valley Size A reds, $15.00-16.00/50 lb sack, held flat week over week through Oct 23 but are 40.9% above year-ago pricing. The Size A midpoint of $15.50/50 lb sack sits 38% above the 5-year median for this date, per USDA shipping point reports.
About Red potato prices
Per pound and per bushel. At the 50 lb sack quote above, $14.00-16.00/50 lb sack for Size A reds out of the Red River Valley on Nov 3, 2026, reds work out to $0.28-0.32/lb and $16.80-19.20 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.
Red potatoes are a fresh-market crop almost end to end. Fry plants run on russets and chip plants contract round whites, so nearly all red volume moves through the tablestock channel these FOB prices cover: 50 lb sacks and cartons, baled consumer bags and 2,000 lb bulk totes.
The Red River Valley on the Minnesota and North Dakota line is the anchor origin, harvesting in the fall and shipping out of storage from October into June. Wisconsin quotes reds from August into March. Fresh crops cover the rest of the calendar: Florida from February into June, California from May into July, and Virginia, Delaware, Minnesota and North Carolina through the summer and early fall.
Reds are not graded by carton count. They are quoted as Size A, the larger table size, and Size B, the smaller, with creamers below that, so a red quote has to be read against another red quote at the same size rather than against a russet count. Planted acreage is a fraction of the russet base, and a thin market moves harder: one origin coming up short, or a handoff between two districts that lands early or late, can push reds further in a week than the same event moves russets. A move in reds says little about where russets are. The red vs russet price spread puts the two on one per-hundredweight scale, pack by pack.
Against the national benchmark. Red potatoes price off their own supply, but the figure the trade quotes as the market is a russet one: potato prices today follows Idaho's 70-count russet carton per carton, per hundredweight and per pound.
Common questions
What is the current red potato price?
Red potatoes sold for $14.00-16.00/50 lb sack ($28.00-32.00/cwt, $0.28-0.32/lb) FOB at the shipping point on Nov 3, 2026, for Size A reds out of the Red River Valley, per USDA shipping point reports. 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 red potatoes?
Wisconsin, Red River Valley, Minnesota, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Delaware are the districts quoting red potatoes at the Size A 50 lb sack 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.