Current UCUI
68/100
Moderate-High Uncertainty
+4 points from prior reading
Potato Market Intelligence
Potato Growing Degree Days
Potato growing degree days accumulate heat above a defined base temperature to track crop development more meaningfully than calendar dates alone. MassGain compares heat accumulation with planting, variety, crop stage, regional history, weather, and harvest timing to support supply planning.
Market Data
How to read this market
Potato Growing Degree Days accumulate heat above a defined base temperature to track crop development more meaningfully than calendar dates alone. The object should be tied to planting date, region, variety, base-temperature convention, and crop stage.
Use GDD with weather, field progress, and historical regional development to refine expectations for emergence, tuber initiation, bulking, maturity, and harvest timing. It should be interpreted alongside heat stress, water, disease, and agronomy rather than used as a stand-alone yield forecast.
Data Module
Potato Growing Degree Day Monitor
Regiongrowing basin
Plantingcrop start date
Heataccumulated degree days
Stagedevelopment milestone
Contextwater, stress, and variety
Decision usecrop and harvest timing
Analysis
Why this matters
Faster heat accumulation can advance development while simultaneously increasing stress risk, so more GDD is not automatically better. The commercial value is in identifying timing shifts that affect harvest, storage transitions, processor intake, or delivery commitments.
Signal 01
Usable Crop Uncertainty Index
UCUI translates crop and market complexity into a simple uncertainty signal. Higher readings indicate greater uncertainty—not necessarily higher prices.
Understand uncertainty. Anticipate risk. Act earlier.
UCUI is designed to analyze potato-industry publications and data signals across regions, varieties, weather, disease, storage, supply, and demand.
WeatherHigh
DiseaseHigh
StorageMedium
SupplyMedium
Single-day snapshot based on a scan of 11,500+ web and social signals. Get historical and real-time data by clicking the button below.
The MassGain Daily
Today’s market analysis.
A daily editorial synthesis of physical potato data, crop signals, market reporting, and what participants should watch next.
September 16, 2026Latest MassGain publication
Potato market steady for now; Russia’s smaller crop is the salient risk
Spot prices are flat and USDA terminal reports read ‘market steady,’ but a renewed forecast for a smaller Russian harvest and recent regional harvest stress leave seasonal import timing and storage losses as the key uncertainty.
Signal 02
MassGain Potato Index
Independent physical-pricing intelligence and market-trend analysis for procurement, forecasting, contracting, and scenario planning.
Core Russet Carton Median
312.45 USD/MT
Latest qualifying physical-market observation
+4.75 (+1.55%)
Price discovery for the physical potato market
MPI is designed to track physical pricing data, price trends, deltas, and divergences across regions and potato types.
Series window45 days
Current public coverageCore russet cartons
Primary source basisQualifying USDA physical rows
UnitUSD per metric tonne
Single-day snapshot based on most recent 45 days worth of data. Limited to US Russets only. Get more complete, global data about all varieties by clicking the button below.
Signal 03
MassGain Spot Reference
An independent spot reference designed for price discovery, contract discussions, procurement comparisons, and risk modeling.
Russet Burbank — U.S. Midsize
305 USD/MT
Demonstration reference format
+1.6% WoW · Confidence: High
A trusted benchmark for pricing, contracts, and risk
MSR is intended to use real transactions and verifiable physical-market data to support negotiations, price checks, contracting, and risk models.
ProductRusset Burbank
SpecificationU.S. midsize, 40–70 count
Reference typePhysical spot benchmark
StatusIn development
Based on most recent 45 days worth of data. Limited to US Russets only. Get more complete, global data about all varities by clicking the button below. Full access also includes historical data -- including depreciated NYMEX/CBOE/EEX spot references -- projections, trends, and AI-driven insights.
The MassGain Product Ladder
From insight to intelligence to action
Four integrated products built for the physical potato market, delivered through public pages, reports, exports, dashboards, and API access.
1
Content
Original research, commentary, aggregated news, and market updates.
- What matters right now?
- What is happening out there?
2
UCUI™
Usable Crop Uncertainty Index: an AI-powered signal of crop risk and market uncertainty.
- Understand uncertainty
- Anticipate risk
- Act earlier
3
MPI™
MassGain Potato Index: independent physical-pricing intelligence and trend analysis.
- Price discovery
- Regional trends
- Procurement planning
4
MSR™
MassGain Spot Reference: an independent benchmark for price discovery and risk modeling.
- Contracts
- Negotiations
- Risk models
Content + UCUI + MPI + MSR + API access
Get historical series, regional detail, constituent data, exports, alerts, and direct data access.
Overview
Who is this for?
This page is for growers, processors, crop advisers, agricultural lenders, and market analysts that use potato growing degree days to track crop development. Growing degree days accumulate heat above a defined base temperature and provide a more useful development clock than calendar dates alone. MassGain helps users compare current heat accumulation with planting dates, variety, crop stage, historical regional patterns, weather forecasts, and expected harvest timing.
The measure is valuable because two regions planted on the same date may reach emergence, tuber initiation, bulking, senescence, or harvest readiness at different times. Faster accumulation can advance development but may also coincide with heat stress, while low accumulation can delay crop maturity and compress harvest windows. MassGain connects GDD progress with regional crop condition, yield and quality risk, storage transition, processing demand, and price timing. Processors can refine intake and new-crop transition assumptions, growers can coordinate scouting and field operations, and lenders can identify potential delivery or cash-flow delays. GDD is not a yield forecast by itself and the appropriate base and thresholds depend on variety and local agronomy. MassGain provides the contextual market and historical framework needed to use heat accumulation as a planning indicator rather than an isolated weather statistic.
Use Case
A processor expects new-crop deliveries to begin in early September. MassGain shows the primary basin is running materially behind its normal heat accumulation while a secondary region remains on schedule. The company extends stored-crop coverage, adjusts plant intake dates, and avoids relying on the calendar-based transition assumption.
FAQs
What are potato growing degree days?
They are accumulated heat units used to estimate crop-development progress relative to a defined base temperature.
Do growing degree days predict yield?
Not alone. Water, disease, soil, variety, stress timing, and management also affect yield and quality.
How does MassGain use GDD data?
It compares heat accumulation with crop stage, regional history, harvest timing, supply transitions, and market exposure.
Put this market intelligence to work
Get historical data, regional detail, benchmarks, alerts, exports, and API access tailored to your procurement
and market-analysis needs.
Data and Methodology
Professional market-data standards
MassGain is building transparent public market infrastructure. Each live metric will identify its date, unit, coverage, methodology, and source basis.
Data provenance
MassGain uses public, licensed, contributed, and independently derived physical-market information. Source availability and publication schedules vary.
Timing and revisions
Figures may reflect the latest available observation rather than a same-day transaction. Source data and MassGain calculations may be corrected, restated, or revised.
Not transactional pricing
MassGain figures are informational reference values and do not constitute executable bids, offers, settlements, or guarantees that a transaction can occur at the displayed value.
No individualized advice
Content and data are provided for informational and analytical purposes and do not constitute financial, investment, legal, trading, or individualized procurement advice.
Independent publication
Certain observations may be derived from USDA reports. MassGain is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USDA.
Commercial use and licensing
Public display does not grant rights to reproduce, redistribute, republish, or incorporate MassGain indices or references into commercial products or contracts without authorization.