William Church from The Jersey Potato Company said, "Planting went very well. Harvesting is about one week behind last year because it has been cold and dry which slowed down the development of the outdoor crop."Easter is a key time for Jersey potatoes, many retailers target this to try and get an offer on the shelves for their customers. According to Church demand exceeds supply. Volumes vary depending on the weather conditions but the Island exports around 30,000 tonnes into the UK each year.
Teams have been lifting the last of the indoor crop.
At the same time some crews have moved outside onto a number of smaller, more sheltered côtils. Some are so small that they need to be dug entirely by hand.
Whereas others are dug using the traditional winch and cable system.
This is time-consuming and very labour intensive, and is a vital part of the early season production.
Once the potatoes have in effect been ploughed out, workers come in behind to pick the potatoes up by hand into baskets. These are transferred into sacks to take them back to the packhouse for grading and packing.
Photos: The Jersey Potato Company
William Church
The Jersey Royal Company Ltd
Tel: +44(0)1534 850406
Email: william.church@jerseyroyal.co.uk
www.jerseyroyal.co.uk