May 2023 really turned the corner where our weather is concerned. The month began with howling gales and heavy rain, resembling a form of an Armageddon / climate meltdown scenario.
However, it ended on an entirely different note – hot, sunny days with fields drying out by the minute.
And, as we headed towards the middle of June, the heat continued to build.
There’s not a farmer in the country, right now, who would say no to a heavy shower of rain, or two.
Weather and potatoes
Meanwhile, all of southern Europe has received nothing but heavy rain for most of the past month. Mind you, this follows one of the longest droughts in living memory, where the region is concerned.
So is global warming fast becoming a reality?
Angus Wilson, chairman of the Wilson’s Country potato business, is in no doubt that it is. He points out that last year’s drought reduced the size of Europe’s potato crop by around two million tonnes.
What followed was a game of musical chairs with potatoes moving around Europe at the behest of buyers who knew there was not enough supply to meet demand.
The good news is that potatoes are a firm favourite with consumers once again. But the problem in 2022 centred on the fact that there were not enough spuds in the system to keep everyone happy.
And it seems that we are looking at a ‘Groundhog Day’ scenario developing this year.
The weather is again to blame. However, this time it was the floods that engulfed Europe that created the planting chaos.
Meanwhile, here on the island of Ireland, the very late spring served to delay the drilling of main crop potatoes.
It is normally accepted that Irish and UK potato crops will reach full ground cover by the summer solstice, June 21.
In the vast majority of cases, this target growth indicator will not be achieved in 2023. The end result will be a significant drop-off in yields come this year’s harvest.
And, of course, a shortfall in potato output this year will put increasing pressure on potato markets during the first half of 2024.
It seems that the summer of 2023 is shaping up to be a pretty dry one.
And, if this is the case, then we can look back at four of the last five years in Ireland being hotter and drier than would normally be the case.
But is this firm evidence of climate change in action? I am yet to be convinced.
But what I do know is that the world is a finite resource. And if we keep taking and not giving back, the ‘you know what’ will eventually hit the fan. And when this happens, we will only have ourselves to blame.