Potato Review

42 POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2020 PLANTING export to Egypt. While his acreage is determined by store and machinery capacity rather than demand, he remains optimistic about the future. “We will all still need seed potatoes and trade will continue regardless of political factors like Brexit. e pandemic has demonstrated how co-operation is vital and trade agreements are no di erent. e loss of crop protection products is much more of a challenge.” Processing Sector e processing sector has undoubtedly felt the impact of covid-19 hardest. Since the beginning of March European processing potato futures have fallen over 100 Euros. “With restaurants closing and many factories scaling back production, the chipping sector has seen dramatic declines in demand. Both McCain’s and Lamb Weston are rapidly reducing land in production,” said Archie. “It comes on the back of the wet harvest where many growers didn’t lift crops. e loss of contracts will have a profound e ect and some land simply may not be drilled with anything at all.” Labour Covid has compounded labour concerns for both Patrick and James. “I last used foreign labour about in spring. It’s di cult to know what to do for the best. With my family and team to look after I want to minimise risks. We’ve four full time people on farm and my daughter is back from university. We’ve been able to do everything we’ve needed to so far,” said James. Patrick has also been able to cover the workload to date but remains concerned: “What will happen this year coming depends on many things – hopefully the pandemic will have passed. Last year was a challenge but we did manage. “It’s not just Covid, many of the economies of Eastern European countries are improving and the value of the pound has fallen – there are many factors a ecting the labour market.” Plant Protection Products “ e loss of PPP ismore of a challenge than Brexit and Covid-19,” said Patrick and James agreed. Patrick said: “Crop protection products are critical to producing the safe, high-quality, cheap food consumers demand. In the long term, the loss of these chemicals may well cause a food shortage. e blight famine, for example, a ected the whole of Europe, though it’s e ects in Ireland are most widely remembered. It’s still a threat here and we spray for it every week.” “ e loss of diquat is a big problem. We use Spotlight (carfentrazone) now but it takes too long. Ware growers have more options than seed growers. We have to desiccate crops and get them out of the ground with as much seed as possible. You don’t want them growing too big and that is where diquat was good. You could stop the crop right then, that moment in time.” At the forefront of James’s mind is the withdrawal of CIPC. “Brexit hasn’t had an impact yet, but then we don’t know where it’s going so it is impossible to plan. CPIC, on the other hand, was withdrawn in January and that will certainly change our plans for our stores. We will have to increase the air tightness and that’ll require signi cant investment.” While establishment costs may be up for many this spring, potato crops have got o to a good, albeit late, start. “Early indications suggest planted area will be down on 2019,” concludes Archie. “ e decrease coming from the chipping sector where major players have reduced contracts. Anecdotal evidence from growers in the bagging and crisping sectors, suggests acreage planted this season will be back on last year. On-farm, one of the major concerns is the availability and risks associated with bringing in external labour, though growers continue to be most concerned about the ever-shrinking range of crop protection products. Covid has compounded labour concerns for growers. James Woodro e’s daughter ridging potatoes. “Everyone has done very well to get seed potatoes out to farms – we’ve sold nearly every tonne.” Alex Moore, Sales Manager at Agrico The crop has got off to a good start which is half the battle.” Patrick Sleigh, seed grower