Current UCUI
68/100
Moderate-High Uncertainty
+4 points from prior reading
Potato Market Intelligence
Potato Operating Margin Per Acre
Potato operating margin per acre measures farm operating return after matching marketable production and realized revenue with operating costs. Pairing the metric with regional price and marketable-yield assumptions helps growers and lenders distinguish weak margins caused by the market from those caused by production or cost structure.
Market Data
How to read this market
Potato operating margin per acre measures farm operating return on an acreage basis after matching marketable production and realized revenue with operating costs. Relevant inputs include yield, contract or open-market price, quality adjustments, seed, crop protection, irrigation, labor, machinery, land, storage, freight, and financing depending on the chosen definition.
Use the metric with a matched regional price and marketable-yield assumption. This makes it possible to compare farms, test repayment capacity, and distinguish weak margins caused by market conditions from those caused by cost structure or production performance.
Data Module
Operating margin per acre context
Revenuemarketable yield times realized price
Qualitypremiums and deductions
Field costsseed, inputs, water, and labor
Post-harvestharvest, storage, and freight
Market basisregion, end use, and contract structure
Decision useunderwriting, peer comparison, and acreage planning
Analysis
Why this matters
Per-acre margin can hide yield risk if the underlying production assumption is optimistic. A high expected margin can disappear quickly when marketable recovery falls even if the contracted price remains unchanged.
The strongest comparison therefore combines acre economics with cost per marketable tonne and matched regional conditions. That reveals whether the farm is competitive because of market luck, production efficiency, or both.
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 10, 2026Latest MassGain publication
Potato prices quiet at $30/cwt as regional harvest damage buzzes beneath the surface
Market indicators are stable, but reporting from Europe and select growing areas shows real, localized crop stress — a reminder that steady headline prices can mask uneven physical risk.
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 designed for agricultural lenders, farm-management teams, growers, and advisers who need to compare potato operating margin per acre with a credible market reference. Margin per acre is not simply revenue minus field inputs. It depends on marketable yield, realized contract or open-market price, quality adjustments, storage and freight, seed and crop-protection costs, machinery, land, labor, financing, and the timing of cash receipts.
MassGain strengthens the pricing side of the analysis by matching the farm’s region, crop use, delivery window, and marketing channel with relevant potato benchmarks and historical ranges. That allows users to separate a weak margin caused by the broader market from one caused by yield, quality, storage, or cost structure. A grower can compare alternative contracts or marketing periods; a lender can test repayment capacity under lower price or marketable-yield assumptions; and an adviser can benchmark performance without treating every acre as economically identical.
The result is a more useful per-acre measure grounded in actual potato-market exposure. MassGain does not replace the farm’s records or enterprise budget. It provides the external price, crop, and regional context needed to explain margin differences and build defensible base and downside cases.
Use Case
A lender reviews two processing-potato farms with similar planted acreage. MassGain shows one farm’s weaker operating margin is driven by lower marketable yield and a late-storage quality discount, not an unfavorable regional contract price. The lender adjusts the downside case for yield and storage rather than applying a blanket price haircut to both borrowers.
FAQs
What belongs in potato operating margin per acre?
Revenue from marketable production should be compared with seed, inputs, labor, machinery, land, storage, freight, financing, and other operating costs.
Why can farms with similar yields have different margins?
Quality, contract terms, realized price, storage, freight, input efficiency, and sales timing can materially change the result.
How does MassGain improve the benchmark?
It matches regional potato prices and crop conditions to the farm’s end use, delivery period, and marketing structure.
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.