We are facing a difficult end to the current potato season. We expect extremely high prices with a lot of preparation work on potatoes. This is the result of several factors:

• A reduction in planted area in the spring of 2022
• Last year’s dry and hot Summer produced low crop yields
• Poor crop yields in Northwest Europe
• Poor crop yields for Crisping potatoes in the UK, crisp factories are now buying potatoes ordinarily allocated for the catering sector.
• The wet spring has prevented growers from planting next season’s crop on time. This elongates the current season creating more demand for a commodity that’s already in short supply.

Looking forward to next season we are facing a further reduction in acreage, but this is not yet confirmed. A large increase in the cost of growing and storing potatoes is outweighing the saleable value of the crop. Therefore, farmers are choosing not to grow potatoes and go with alternative crops.

Hopefully, weather conditions will improve and they will plant this coming season’s crop in the ground by mid-May. If climatic conditions are favourable to growing potatoes, we should hopefully see prices fall back to more acceptable levels but don’t expect them to fall to the prices seen during the pandemic. However, if conditions do not improve expect prices to stay firm.