As the potato harvesting season gets under way, many growers are faced with decisions around their new-season crops.

Growers are being affected by the knock-on effects of external global and European factors with the war in Ukraine and climate change among the big issues impacting all farming.

Potato farms have experienced significant rises in costs (inputs, storage, labour, etc) and challenges around labour availability and seed availability (due to Brexit), all which have affected their production cost base.

Stronger consumer demand and perception of value for money could bring increased demand for potatoes this year in an inflationary environment.

Finding market stability in this dynamic cost environment needs to be this season’s ambition for fresh market potato producers and packers.

This article will examine some key determinant factors that will influence this year’s market.

The production base

Production in the sector is focused around a dozen or so central intake points for large-scale grading and packing of potatoes in Ireland, with the majority of these focusing on supplying the major retail supermarkets and food service channels.

Other intake points support crisp manufacturing and the chipping trade.

The early potato market is another distinct market restricted to growers with ‘early land’ and milder climates.

Table 1 illustrates that the area of potatoes planted in the past few years has been constant, largely finding its own level with steady market demand.

Potato yields

Potato variety is a key determinant of potato yields and growers in Ireland focus on growing mainly relatively high dry matter varieties for the fresh market/Irish consumer.

Growers can best achieve high yields through a combination of good seed and soil selection, together with the best applied science based agronomy. Weather variability has become a major determinant on crop success in recent years.

The summer of 2022 will be remembered as a drought year, a year crops needed irrigation or were ‘held back’ in their yield potential. Early crop predictions by Teagasc suggest yields are back in 2022 compared with 2021.

Rooster has become the dominant variety for the production and packing of fresh table ware potatoes, representing approximately 59% of plantings at farm level (source: 2021 annual IFA survey).

The Bord Bia/Teagasc annual potato yield digs will be starting shortly and will provide an estimate this autumn of what the production levels are this year.

The consumer market

Potatoes are Ireland’s number one main meal carbohydrate. Household spend on fresh potatoes in Ireland is valued at €232m annually, with 220,000 tonnes being purchased (Figure 1).

The market experienced continuous decline from the millennium year to a low point in the 2012-13 season. This was followed by a significant rise in market demand on the back of two industry/EU-funded consumer promotion campaigns, while achieving a COVID-19 market peak in the 2020-21 season, when people were restricted to home and food service was shut down.

Since lockdown was lifted, there has been a return to normal purchase patterns by consumers. Potato demand since late 2021 has been reduced but remains above 2019 (pre-COVID-19 levels).

Stronger consumer demand and perception of value for money could bring increased demand for potatoes this year. \ Donal O’Leary

Roosters remain the most popular potato variety bought by Irish households, representing approximately 65% of sales in any given year. According to Kantar Worldpanel, Rooster sales dropped from 161,214t in 2021 to an estimated 140,395t in 2022, a market re-adjustment post COVID-19 (and as part of this readjustment in the same period the retail potato market contracted by approximately 10%).

Market growth since the turn of the millennium has been hard fought for by the sector by improving consumers’ perception of potatoes.

Bord Bia-run EU campaigns have sought to change perceptions around carbohydrates, the versatility/benefits of potatoes and their extended usage, making them a “must buy” item to keep in stock in modern Irish kitchens, as a basis for any meal occasion.

Many recipes promoted in these campaigns are created to tie in with more modern and less traditional cooking tastes and focus on ease and convenience.

  • The taste of one of the nation’s favourite foods will be celebrated on 7 October with National Potato Day. Visit www.potato.ie
  • Lorcan Bourke.