Potato harvest badly hit by the wet summer

Potato growers in the south of England have been advised to slow down and wait for rain so that their harvesters will carry more protective soil up the webs to prevent internal bruising.

No such advice is needed in Scotland, where lifting conditions have been very difficult. Speaking from his East Lothian farm, Potato Council chairman Allan Stevenson said he had never known such a difficult and costly potato harvest. And as he surveyed his sodden fields, he added he would happily change places with those growers in the drier areas.

“It is one of the worst harvests in living memory in this area,” he said. “The fields are so wet and lifting costs are much higher than normal getting the crop out of the ground.”

While the majority of his crop was of high quality, he said, there was a significantly higher percentage of green potatoes and soft rots, both adding to the harvesting costs and both brought about by the high rainfall in July, August and September.

The lifting experience is quite varied in different parts of Scotland. Peter Grewar said that fields around his main base at Meigle in Perthshire were “reasonable” but lifting his other crops in the Black Isle and west of Perth was a “real struggle” with sodden fields.

While he had been pleased with yields of crops that had been planted early in April, any later-planted fields were now below average in tonnage lifted. “It is all about a lack of heat and sunshine this year,” he commented.

In the East Neuk of Fife, NFU Scotland vice president Allan Bowie described lifting progress as slow with fields being “sticky”. He has also had extra pickers on his harvesters to cope with the clods that are coming up the webs.

Yields were below average and again he was suffering from more green tubers in the samples.

All areas are behind in the normal lifting period. Stevenson said he would normally target an end date in mid October but he was well behind schedule. Bowie reckoned he was two thirds through the crop.