Potato storage costs have more than doubled, year-on-year, according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).

According to IFA Potato Committee chair, Sean Ryan, growers are currently paying an electricity charge of 48c/unit to run their stores.

“Potatoes going into store now, may well not be coming out again until next June. Meanwhile, growers will have no option but to keep their stores operating throughout this period,” Ryan told Agriland.

“The costs associated with storage alone are enormous at the present time.

“Growers must find some way of getting some compensation for this commitment, either through the market or from the government.”

The Wexford grower confirmed that the market prices for potatoes had risen somewhat over recent weeks.

“But much more is needed to cover growers’ costs, which continue to mount with every day that passes,” he added.

National Potato Conference

Ryan expects the issue of potato storage costs to be well debated at today’s National Potato Conference. The event is taking place at Gormanstown in Co. Meath.

According to the IFA representative, the heavy rain that has fallen over the past 48 hours has brought field work to a complete halt.

“There is still a significant proportion of this year’s ware crop to be dug in many parts of the country,” he said.

“Most of the digging work that remains will, almost certainly, be deferred until next spring.”

Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, growers are reporting that potato yields have fallen, year-on-year, by up to 25%.

But it is crops in Co. Down that have taken the real yield hit. Normally, growers there would be harvesting 20t of ware potatoes/ac. This year, crops are coming in at only 15t.

While yields might have fallen this year, every cost associated with potato production in 2022 has risen sharply – fertiliser, seed, fuel and machinery costs.

Growers are estimating that the total cost of growing potatoes this year has risen by €800/ac, relative to 2021.

Given current fuel prices, it is costing some growers up to €1,100 to harvest potatoes on a daily basis. This figure assumes no breakdowns or machinery repairs.

It should be possible to harvest 10ac of potatoes/day, assuming ground conditions are suitable. All of this takes the total cost of growing 1ac of ware potatoes in 2022 up to a figure of around €3,000.

Adding to all of these issues is the growing concern is that the quality of potatoes that are left in the ground now will deteriorate significantly prior to their eventual harvest.