Beauregard is the workhorse of the export trade and the variety you will be offered by default. It sets a heavy crop, sizes up quickly and delivers a high proportion of tubers in the middle grades that retail programmes want. Skin is orange-tan, flesh is deep orange, and the shape is reasonably uniform though it can run long in a good season.
Its weakness is skin. Beauregard skin sets well with proper curing but scuffs easily when handled green, and scuffing is the single most common reason a container arrives looking tired. If you are buying Beauregard, the question to ask your supplier is not about the variety — it is about how long the crop was cured before packing.
Bellevue is grown where appearance matters. Tubers are blockier and more consistent, which lifts the percentage that passes a retail specification and reduces the tail of odd shapes that end up downgraded. Growers like it because the pack-out is predictable; buyers like it because the carton looks the same every time.
It typically yields less per hectare than Beauregard, so it carries a premium. For a retail programme where consistency is worth paying for, that premium usually pays for itself in reduced rejection at the repacker.
Covington has a rounder shape, a smoother and more resilient skin, and generally higher dry matter than Beauregard. Higher dry matter means denser flesh, better eating quality and — commercially more relevant — better tolerance of a long cold chain. If your programme involves extended storage after arrival, or you are shipping to a market where the crop sits before it moves, Covington is the safer choice.
Variety by name, and a fallback clause saying what happens if the named variety is short. Season and weather move availability between varieties, and a supplier who cannot ship Bellevue in March should tell you in advance rather than substitute Beauregard and hope. Ask for the variety to appear on the packing list and the pallet tag, not just in the offer email.
One caution on labelling: variety names are sometimes used loosely in the trade, and a crop sold as one variety may be a local selection with similar characteristics. If the distinction matters to your customer, ask for the seed source and confirm it before the first container rather than after it.
