According to Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) National Potato Committee chair Seán Ryan, the 2023 potato harvest was ‘the worst in recent memory’. Ryan said that for many growers this year’s harvest is rapidly ‘turning into a salvage operation’ because potato drills are submerged due to recent flooding.
According to Met Éireann some weather stations have already exceeded the average annual total rainfall while others close to it. The recent heavy rain has washed clay off of the top of drills which exposes the crop to potential frost damage.
“A few hard frosts at this point will wipe out entire crops,” Ryan said. “Now that we are in November, we are in extremely difficult territory with this much crop left to be harvested.”
Agriland.ie reported on Ruan continuing: “This year, potato growers were forced to harvest in reverse due to weather conditions. Dry fields were harvested first leaving the wetter ground to be harvested now. Very little potatoes have been harvested into stores to date as the market absorbed a lot of crops as they were harvested,” Ryan added.
Storms hit UK potato harvest
The UK potato crop is expected be one of the smallest on record this year. Floods have taken their toll on UK potato production with the crop set to be one of the smallest on record. Storm Babet has taken its toll on those harvesting potato crops.
Sandy McGowan, managing director at potato breeders Cygnet Pep, based in Tayside, said: "Our growers had lifted about 85 per cent of their seed potatoes before Storm Babet arrived and harvesting has been very difficult since then. It was the second storm to hit, after Storm Agnes arrived at the end of September. Before then, only 60 per cent of the crop had been lifted, so we had recovered quite well before Babet.”
Source: farmersguardian.com