A combination of cold weather and strong domestic demand has conspired to push up potato acreage across Ireland this year
Potato acreage across the island of Ireland in 2024 is up year-on-year due to climatic and market factors, according to Northern Ireland potato brand Wilson’s Country.
A late spring deterred many farmers from planting cereal while strong domestic demand for potatoes encouraged growers to increase their potato acreage, Wilson’s Country agronomist Stuart Meredith reveals.
Speaking as Northern Ireland’s 2024 main crop potato harvest officially got under way on 23 September, Meredith said – despite a cold, late spring – it has been a great year for potatoes, so far.
“To date, early planted main crops have been yielding average or slightly above average tonnes per acre,” he said.
Yet, Meredith added that it has been a “tricky blight year”, which has required growers to spray crops on a weekly basis and pushed up their costs.
He also noted a range of crop responses generated by different fertilisers this season.
“It’s now evident that crops grown with chemical fertilisers are senescing much earlier than those grown with the use of organic manures,” he said.
“This may be due to the fact that residual nitrogen levels within soils started out lower this Spring due to the excessive rainfall last winter and the slower releasing nitrogen from applied organic manures has been needed to carry the plant through the season.”
Meredith concluded that Wilson’s Country continues to experience strong demand for potatoes, from both the prepack and processing sectors.
