British potato crop higher than 2008

This year's potato crop was up 3.5% on last year at 6.2m tons, according to provisional Potato Council estimate figures released recently.

 

 

The planted area was relatively unchanged at 130,231 ha, but favourable growing conditions meant the average yield was over 3% higher at 47.2 t/ha, compared with 45.7 t/ha last year.

 

 

Drier conditions later in the season led to some harvesting problems, which could have implications for the marketability of some crops, according to the Potato Council.

 

 

The dry weather tended to result in poor skin finish in some areas, and later on it resulted in high dry matter levels and excessive bruising during lifting.

 

 

As a result it is expected that wastage will be fairly high during the 2009/10 trading season