Potato stocks held by Idaho growers, dealers and processors were up 16 percent through Feb. 1 compared with the prior year, according to a recent USDA report.

Idaho's potato stocks totaled 80.5 million hundredweight, up by 11 million hundredweight.

Disappearance, a measure of how the volume reduced through consumption, shrinkage or rot, was up by 6 percent at 62.7 million hundredweight.

Nationally, the 13 major potato states held 214 million hundredweight of potatoes in storage, up 14 percent from the previous year. Processors in the nine major potato states have used 107 million hundredweight of potatoes this season, down 2 percent from the prior year.