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Potato growers are entering the final stages of this year’s harvest, with many predicting the majority of the remainder of the crop will be lifted by early next week. Growers are reporting excellent harvest conditions, with good trafficability as a result of the dry autumn.
However, there are reports of huge variation in yields and a large amount of secondary growth due to the drought conditions experienced over the summer.
In terms of prices, growers said they were stable and up on previous years by approximately 25%.
John Griffin from Co Cork said they had harvested 85% of their crop and were aiming to be finished within a week. He irrigated 60ac of crops and said these held up well, exceeding 15t/ac. “What we didn’t irrigate, especially Kerrs Pinks, are back to 10t/ac. There are also a lot of misshapen ones.”
Tom Murray, an agronomist with Iverk Produce, said there were just 5% of potatoes left to be harvested among all suppliers. He added that crops have varied from 14t/ac to 25t/ac, with irrigated ground performing the best.
Murray said that while dry conditions led to reduced yields, it resulted in ideal harvesting conditions.
“Once the guys started harvesting they didn’t stop. What we’ve seen so far is that there’s about 20% less clay and debris in the boxes this year.”
David Rodgers in Co Dublin said he had just 10% of potatoes left to harvest, with average gross yields in the region of 15t to 17t/ac. He said that potatoes had not bulked up the way they would in a normal year.
Bart Maertens in Co Kildare said he had just four acres of late Golden Wonders to harvest from a total of 50 planted acres. For Roosters the average yield was about 18t/ac, but non-irrigated crops were down around 13t/ac.
He added that there was also a large difference in quality as well as yield, with a notable amount of scab on non-irrigated potatoes.
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