Potato growers in the northwest are around halfway through their 2021 potato planting campaign.

The majority of growers elsewhere in the country are now finished.

Unlike most areas in the country which experienced a prolonged dry spell in April, the northwest received just one week of settled weather.

While this allowed the majority of spring cereals to be sown, potato growers were just able to make a start at planting.

Smash and grab

Since then, continued broken weather has turned this year’s potato planting campaign into a smash and grab exercise.

With better weather promised for later this week, growers are hoping to finish the last of their planting.

However, this will likely lead to a later harvest and with growers now needing to flail crops in the absence of diquat, this could make for a challenging autumn.

Frost damage

Meanwhile, the Irish Farmers Journal has received reports of frost damage on early-sown potatoes in the northeast.

Late frosts in April and May not only slowed grass growth and crop development, but has damaged the tops of earlier-sown potato crops.

Last year, we visited Donegal grower Jamie Rankin, who experienced severe frost damage on a crop of early-sown rooster potatoes. While the crop was set back, it did end up recovering.

Read about it here.