80% of the Irish main crop potato harvest is now complete, with the prospect of getting all crops out of the ground within the next fortnight a very real one.
Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) national potato committee chair, Sean Ryan, commented:
"This is good news for growers. Weather and ground conditions remain excellent. There is a real possibility that the vast bulk of Irish potato crops will be out of the ground by the end of next week."
Meanwhile, IFA potato representatives are in the throes of meeting Irish food retailers. "This process will continue over the coming weeks. We aim to secure the best possible prices for Irish potato growers at all times," Ryan said. The IFA representative confirmed that the 2024 National Potato Conference will take place on Thursday, November 21.
Potato harvest
The event, which is co-hosted by IFA, Bord Bia and Teagasc, will take place in the City North Hotel, Gormanstown, Co. Meath.
Recent days have seen the issue of potato imports coming into Ireland raised courtesy of a written question directed to Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue by Fine Gale TD, Bernard Durkan. The question referenced the issue of both ware and seed potato imports.
In his reply, Minister McConalogue confirmed that preliminary figures, provided by the Central Statistics Office for 2023, point to the value of potato and potato-based imports amounting €229 million in 2023. This represents an increase of 24% or €68 million on 2022, while the volume of these imports increased by 6% or 13,613t.
Minister McConalogue continued: "My department will continue to monitor trends in the value and volume of Agrifood and prepared consumer food trade. "I will also continue to work with stakeholders to realize the ambition set out in Food Vision 2030, in particular Mission Three -food which is safe, nutritious and appealing, trusted and valued at home and abroad."
Recent years have seen the issue of imports addressed by the Irish potato industry. One obvious example of this has been the enhanced commitment of growers to produce greater tonnages of high-quality potatoes that are suited to the chipping sector.
A growth in the production of Irish salad potatoes is also evident over recent years. Progress in this regard, however, has been slower than many growers would have liked. This has been caused by restricted supplies of suitable seed stock.
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