Potato yields have declined year on year by approximately 10 to 15% in 2022, Teagasc has confirmed.
The area of main crop grown in 2022 came in at 7,400ha.
Looking back on National Potato Day (Friday, October 7) on the 2022 growing season there were a number of factors that came into play which heavily impacted on this year’s yields.
Chief among these were the drought-like conditions that impacted in many areas and varying soil conditions.
The availability, or not, of irrigation facilities has also had a major impact on potato yields this year.
“In some areas the fall-off in yield has been significantly greater than 15%,” said Shay Phelan, Teagasc potato specialist .
“In these cases the combined impact of the dry weather, lighter soils and little or no access to irrigation systems have all come into play.”
According to Teagasc average potato yields in 2021 came in at 47t/ha.
The area of maincrop potatoes grown in 2022 which is 400ha down on last year’s recorded figure.
Phelan said the main crop harvest got underway at the end of August and has continued apace up to this point.
“Most potatoes lifted over recent weeks have been put on to the market directly. This has caused a noticeable drop in prices.”
But he added that crops harvested from October onwards will be destined for storage and that this help to “settle markets.”
According to the Teagasc potato specialist growers are very conscious of the enhanced storage costs they are currently facing.
Phelan said: “It was inevitable that they would want to sell earlier harvested crops almost directly from the field, in order to reduce their energy bills over their coming months.”
Although he also pointed out that one benefit of the dry summer has been the high dry matters of the potatoes grown as it is generally accepted that the Irish palate prefers a ‘floury potato.’
But as the Teagasc potato specialist outlines high dry matters in potatoes can be a double edged sword.
Phelan said:
“Trial digs carried out by farmers during the month of September confirmed dry matters to be well above 20%.
“This was particularly the case with varieties such as Maris Piper, Rooster and Golden Wonder.”
But he warned the downside to harvesting dry matter crops is dealing with the risk of bruising individual tubers.
Phelan said that if potatoes are bruised then they cannot be sold for human consumption only stock feed.
Teagasc is advising potato growers to set up their harvesters to ensure that bruising levels are kept to an absolute minimum.
“This also means carrying out the entire harvesting process in a very slow and measured manner,” said Phelan.
He outlined that one upside to the dry conditions that characterised the 2022 growing season had been the very uniform size of the tubers coming out of the ground.
Phelan added:
“Most growers are confirming very consistent runs of potatoes. In theory, this means less waste.”
But he also warned that this does not detract from the fact that growers faced an exponential increase in costs throughout 2022.
The Teagasc potato specialist pointed to the cost of fertiliser as a key component.
” The fact is that every cost incurred by potato growers has rocketed over the past number of months: fuel, the price of seed, servicing charges and the cost of storage.”
“The reality is that growers need potato prices now that reflect the greatly increased cost burden that has have confronted them this year.
He has urged supermarkets to “respond accordingly and quickly”.
Phelan believes if supermarkets do not respond there will not be potato growers operating in Ireland, in 2023.
According to Teagasc statistics Irish potato production has decreased from 332,000 hectares in 1850 to just over 9,000 hectares.
Ireland’s average annual potato consumption is 85kg a person – this is 2.5 times higher than the world average – but in the 1990s the equivalent figure would have been 140kg a head.