British potato bosses are estimating a total crop production of 5.954 million tonnes this year.
The British Potato Council’s provisional estimate is down slightly on last year’s 5.983mt and down significantly on 2002, which saw 6.683mt harvested.
The result is based on 642 crop check weight test digs on 20 varieties conducted throughout the UK on seed and ware crops from August through to October, together with field reports on early crop yields from May to July.
The council said: “For planning purposes it is suggested the figure is regarded as accurate to plus or minus five per cent, giving a true figure for production which lies between 5.656mt to 6.252mt.”
