In some areas, last weekend, rainfall gave a boost to potato lifting. Unfortunately, this had seen delays for various reasons including bruising risk, delayed skin set and a desire by growers to maximise their yields towards the end of a difficult growing season.
Ben Sykes, who grows 220 hectares of potatoes in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, had harvested 10 to 20% of the crop by October 8. Normally he would have harvested 40-50% by this time.
“They were planted a lot later because of a wet spring and it has been a stressful growing season with the heat. We’ve had to wait a long time for them to mature and now we are harvesting dangerously late,” Sykes says.
Sykes grows processing potatoes, mainly destined for McCain’s and several other customers. With potatoes grown on contract and prices fixed, he has opted to harvest later to try to improve yields which he describes as ‘average to poor’.
With 22mm of rain falling on October 5, lifting conditions were ideal these last days. “It was too wet on Saturday, but now it’s ideal.”
In the West, conditions were reported to be more favourable for lifting than in the East, with higher soil moisture levels, reported fginsight.com.
