Even before the widespread flooding caused by Storm Babet across the country, potato yields were reported as being variable due to uncertain weather conditions in some parts of the UK.
North Yorkshire grower Andrew Wilson told Farmers Weekly earlier this month that conditions were wet but not impossible, although harvest had started a week later than usual due to delays in crop desiccation caused by the wet September.
Elsewhere some growers have already finished lifting, while others had suffered from the wet weather. Overall lifting was some two weeks behind normal (before Storm Babet). Tim Rooke, chair of the NFU Potato Policy Group, commented that although some farmers experienced quality issues due to rain – and that storage of some crops will need to be carefully considered overall potato yields appear to have recovered better than predicted after a late planting and June’s record-breaking heat.
“Since the demise of AHDB, we no longer have a definitive figure for the ware planted area, although anecdotally it is understood to be down slightly,” he said. “One figure we do have though is for the planted seed area. Concerningly these figures show a drop of 1,000 ha across England and Scotland and, combined with the lack of seed coming in from Europe, there’s a real concern about how much seed there will be to go around.”
In Ireland, “Harvest conditions are very difficult at present and it is shaping up to be one of the most difficult harvests in recent times unless conditions change quickly. Water-logging, bacterial soft rots, and deep tramlines are evident in many fields while there seems to be an above normal amount of cracking in crops,” according to the IFA.