Current UCUI
68/100
Moderate-High Uncertainty
+4 points from prior reading
Potato Market Intelligence
Potato Irrigation Water Availability
Potato irrigation water availability measures the water growers can physically and legally access when the crop needs it, not just reservoir or rainfall headlines. Growers and processors can map shared water systems, allocations, wells, infrastructure, and crop demand to fields, varieties, contracts, and plant exposure.
Market Data
How to read this market
Potato irrigation-water-availability data measures the water physically and legally accessible to potato growers from reservoirs, rivers, groundwater, district allocations, wells, and on-farm systems. The market object is usable irrigation supply by grower or basin during the crop's critical stages.
Use the data to map shared water dependencies across contracted acres, compare supply with expected crop demand, and identify where rights, infrastructure, pumping capacity, or allocation rules create uneven risk. Headline reservoir or rainfall measures should be translated into actual farm delivery.
Data Module
Potato Irrigation Water Availability
Market objectusable farm water supply
Primary measuredeliverable irrigation capacity
Key dimensionsdistrict, source, timing, rights
Commercial usecrop and contract risk
Constraintsallocation, wells, infrastructure
Compare withcrop demand, acreage, alternate regions
Analysis
Why this matters
Geographic diversification can be illusory when several growers depend on the same irrigation district or aquifer. Farms that look separate on a supplier list may share one water bottleneck.
Commercial interpretation should map water systems to fields, varieties, and plants. The relevant signal is whether enough water can be delivered when the crop needs it, not the regional water headline alone.
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, procurement teams, and agricultural lenders that need to understand potato irrigation water availability. Availability includes the water physically and legally accessible from reservoirs, rivers, groundwater, allocations, wells, districts, and on-farm systems during the crop’s critical stages. MassGain connects water-supply evidence with planted acreage, crop demand, weather, soil moisture, irrigation infrastructure, contracts, and regional potato-market exposure.
Headline rainfall or reservoir levels do not fully describe usable farm water. Delivery restrictions, pumping cost, well capacity, seniority, infrastructure outages, and timing can leave some growers exposed while neighboring operations remain adequately supplied. MassGain maps those differences to varieties, fields, processor programs, and expected yield or quality outcomes. Growers can evaluate acreage and irrigation risk, processors can identify contracted supply concentrated in vulnerable districts, finance can model production and working-capital scenarios, and lenders can assess shared borrower exposure. The platform also compares alternate production regions and historical market responses when water becomes scarce. MassGain does not allocate water or provide agronomic recommendations. It supplies a physical-market framework that shows whether sufficient irrigation is likely to be available when potatoes need it and how a shortfall could affect usable supply, delivery timing, quality, and regional prices.
Use Case
A processor’s grower base appears geographically diverse, but MassGain shows several farms depend on the same irrigation district, which announces a reduced allocation. The processor reserves supply from another basin and revises only the affected growers’ yield and size assumptions.
FAQs
What determines irrigation water availability?
Reservoirs, rivers, groundwater, allocations, wells, infrastructure, rights, cost, and delivery timing all matter.
Why can neighboring farms face different water risk?
Rights, district rules, well capacity, infrastructure, and crop demand may differ.
How does MassGain assess commercial exposure?
It maps water availability to fields, growers, varieties, contracts, plants, and regional supply alternatives.
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.