Irish growers have made some lifting progress over the last week, with between 20% and 25% of the crops remaining to be harvested.

However, with more unsettled weather forecast and with the onset of frosty nights, fears are mounting that much of the remaining crops won’t be lifted until after Christmas, likely leading to high losses.

Growers across Britain have also had a challenging potato harvest. Some progress has been made in areas over the past week, albeit at a variable pace.

Poor weather

The UK Met Office rainfall data shows that during October, much of Yorkshire and the East Midlands had over 175% of average rainfall.

Most of the rest of England received 125% or more of normal rainfall, as did the southern parts of Wales where potatoes are grown.

In Scotland, rainfall was close to or slightly below average for October. Monthly rainfall ranged from 75mm to 100mm in the east of England to 200mm to 300mm in parts of Yorkshire, the northwest and southern Wales.

Wet weather persisted into November, with saturated fields and flooding affecting much of the country.

Progress

Over 90% of the British potato area has been lifted. A small proportion of this area is expected to be lifted if there are any breaks in the weather over the next few weeks.

The latest AHDB figures suggest that northern areas have been the worst affected by the weather. As much as 33% of the harvest there is yet to be harvested.

A further 21% is still to be lifted in Yorks and Humber, and 15% in the northeast.

An estimated 2% to 3% of the area is expected to be completely written off, as the quality of the crop (incidence of rots) is such that it is unlikely to find a market, even if it could be lifted.

Soils are still largely saturated in flood-hit areas and fears are mounting from growers of significant crop losses in those areas.

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