Marking National Potato Day, IFA president Joe Healy urged retailers to recognise the massive investments potato growers have made in machinery and cold storage to ensure a continuous 12-month supply of Irish product.

“Potatoes must be sold as a premium product and not be used in practices such as below-cost selling,” Healy said.

National Potato Day takes place today, Friday 7 October. It’s a joint initiative of Bord Bia, the IFA, and the Irish Potato Federation. It forms part of a €1m three-year promotion campaign by Bord Bia designed to address the fall in fresh potato consumption over the last 12 years and signal the health benefits of the potato.

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Events will run around the country to mark the occasion, including an open day on Eddie Doyle’s farm in Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny. Children in attendance will get a chance to see potatoes being peeled and prepared for chipping and to participate in an on-site cookery demonstration by Dooleys Hotel chef Mark Murphy using recipes from www.potato.ie.

Watch the video on potatoes with TV nutritional expert and dietician Aoife Hearne:

The Irish potato industry is an important indigenous industry worth €75m at farmgate, with 500 growers planting over 9,000ha annually.

“The potato is an important domestic crop, synonymous with Irish agriculture, and has very important health benefits,” said IFA national potato chair Eddie Doyle. “There is more Vitamin C in a potato than there is in an orange, more fibre than in an apple and more potassium than in a banana. The potato also has over 60 phytochemicals that can help you fight illness and is also gluten free.”