Drought is becoming an increasing concern among Europe’s top potato-producing countries. In its latest report, Northwestern European Potato Growers (NEPG) has expressed concerns that a prolonged dry spell coupled with low water levels could affect main-crop potato yields this year.
Increased area
With the exception of Britain, where seed supply was an issue, all countries in the organisation increased their area of ware potatoes, with Germany seeing the biggest increase at 3.6%.
The actual crop conditions in these countries are good but low rainfall and groundwater levels, high temperatures and irrigation capacity concerns are the main issues facing growers.
Early crop
Early crops harvested around Europe indicate that average yields are good. These crops were planted in very good conditions and the NEPG suggests these could be some of the best yielding crops of the season, as they haven’t come under pressure for moisture.
The NEPG stress that August and September are the key months for main-crop bulking. If these countries don’t receive significant rainfall within the next three weeks, it is possible yields may suffer due to drought.
Blight pressure so far has been low due to the dry weather but the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France have reported several cases of Colorado beetle damage.
IFA potato report: increase in Spanish potato imports into Ireland