“The current drought conditions coupled with increasing costs of production makes this a very worrying time for many. The drought, particularly, is reducing yields dramatically. Potatoes stop growing at 25 degrees, which means they are not putting on size or weight, and with the nights being not far off that temperature they are not getting chance to recover.
“With some of the potato varieties we have currently there is nothing that can be done other than looking after them with bio-stimulants to try to keep the roots healthy and irrigate on an evening. “Amanda, a chipping variety, has also shown that it can cope with the stress brought about by the heat better than older varieties such Estima that has fallen out of favour.”
“The King Edward lost a lot of custom last year, their sales dropped off a cliff. The Maris Piper makes up perhaps a third of all potatoes grown because the bigger processors such as McCain’s grow it and like it, although it is a hard variety to grow. “We had one of the big five supermarkets show a firm interest in taking on a new variety in their supermarket. That’s what happens at trial days.”
“Using more bio-stimulants and reducing fertiliser costs may not save a lot in actual short-term monetising, but they may save something on carbon and may also make the crop more sustainable in the long-term.”“We keep potatoes in cold storage and that temperature control is down to electricity. We’ve already seen a jump in the cost of electricity by £10-£20 per tonne dependent on electricity supplier.