Misses in potato crops in New Brunswick in 1973; their extent,distribution and cause

The use of aerial photography as a survey tool for estimating misses in potato crops proved satisfactory. The average crop had 32% misses; in six of the 25 crops the misses were more aggregated than expected assuming a binomial distribution. An estimated loss of 10% in tuber yield resulted from the misses, and based on the 1973 crop value the loss was equivalent to approximately $4 million. Eighty-eight percent of the 1,000 misses investigated were due to the seed piece being absent.