UK: 5.71 million tonnes potato production in 2014
Planted area is estimated at 121,100 ha, down 1.1% on last year. This figure revises the provisional end-August area estimate of 121,900 ha. The area update has been made following the inclusion of additional data, since the end-August estimate, which was based on 85% of registered area.
Seasonal conditions across the major potato growing regions of GB were largely fine and conducive to strong crop growth and high yield potential. Above-average spring temperatures were followed by generally fine and settled summer weather. Unsettled weather in late summer led to only a few short interruptions, but as autumn approached, drier, warmer conditions dominated. The considerable dry, warm periods necessitated the use of widespread irrigation where available and slowed some harvesting activities.
The Potato Council will update the estimate for GB potato production in early 2015.
For more information:
Hannah Goodwin
Potato Council
Tel: +44 2476 478 840
Email: hannah.goodwin@ahdb.org.uk
www.ahdb.org.uk
1 Total Production is the total harvested volume of the GB crop measured in metric tonnes. It excludes field leavings and material graded out prior to storage or sale.
2 Potato yields are net of crop losses (areas that cannot be harvested) and on-farm grading waste. Yields are estimated from the Grower Panel, which is a stratified random sample of 909 sample crops from 518 growers. For this report, data from a sub-sample of 413 crops was available. The estimate for
net yield has confidence limits of ± 2.55%. Confidence limits give the range around the sample mean within which there is a 95% probability that the true mean lies.
3 The area estimate of 121,100 ha includes all potato plantings in GB and is made up of both Potato Council registered and unregistered area. It is based on a regression sample of 98% of registered growers. The area estimate has confidence limits of ± 0.25%.
4 Totals may not calculate precisely due to rounding factors.