Early spud plantings up

By FWi staff

EARLY potato plantings are significantly up on last year, says the British Potato Council.

Using provisional government census data, the BPC has revised its total estimate down by 1.1%, to 147,947ha (365,429 acres). That is slightly above last years acreage.

Area devoted to first earlies and maincrop potatoes has decreased marginally, but the second early varieties have grown by a massive 11%.

“This is no big surprise, because there were a lot of potatoes for sale early in the season, indicating that plantings were up,” says the BPCs Guy Gagen.

“Interest in second earlies is growing, because farmers can get a premium price before the bulk of the maincrop comes on the market.”

Estima and Maris Piper account for nearly a third of the total area, with Estima up by more than 1800ha (4500 acres).

This year Nadine, after an awkward start, has overtaken Cara as the third most popular variety grown.

Mr Gagen expects the total production figure will be comparable to last year, at about 6m tonnes, as although the area is higher, yields are so far estimated to be slightly below last year.

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