Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com INTERNATIONAL NEWS The Liquid Fertiliser Experts CONTACT US TODAY Call 01526 396000 Visit www.omex.com Grow sustainably with OMEX . Offering 24/7 dedicated support to UK farmers, with national coverage and local service. Concerns for harvest following storm CONCERNS were raised about the harvest of potatoes in Sicily in mid March when the potato season was about to begin The island had been hit by a severe storm at the beginning of February, resulting in shortage of vegetable supplies and higher prices. Growing Societa Agricola Zito & Co SRL, a family-run business, said early potatoes have become an expensive commodity. “In addition to general price increases at every stage of production, we had to pay 20-30 percent more for seed potatoes this year. We have to look for alternatives because we won’t survive for long with these costs,” Simone Zito, who runs the business with his brother Francesco and father Tonino, revealed in a recent interview. 16ft statue is ode to Cypriot potatoes WHILE all those in the potato industry are keen to extol the virtues of potato varieties, be that in terms of nutrition or versatility, one village in Cyprus has taken this to a new level. It is home to a 16-foot tall potato statue. When ocials in Xylofagou, a village in Cyprus, were trying to figure out what they could do to commemorate their most famous crop, they decided on a giant fibreglass potato on a stick. The replica of the ‘spunta’ potato variety cost the village €8,000 ($9,300) to design, build, and install. “Xylofagou has a long legacy of potato growing and used to be the main potato grower in Cyprus. This helped the village grow into the 10,000-strong community it is today,” community leader George Tasou told the Cyprus Mail. He said the village wanted the potato to become a point of reference in the community and the jokes and social media posts that have followed its arrival have achieved exactly what they intended - the message has spread and tourists visit to be photographed with the potato. The Big Potato has also been decorated with festive decorations in the run-up to Christmas time to entice more visitors to the area, being treated as an alternative Christmas tree at the entrance of Xylofagou. Not a day passes without visitors and local restaurant owners have said it has helped boost their business. Cyclone-hit growers o ered support in harvest season GROWERS in the north of New Zealand have been oered help and support as they prepared to harvest in the wake of a second cyclone to hit the country in a month. In January, Cylone Hale caused widespread flooding and slips in northern and eastern parts of the country, particularly in the Coromandel and Gisborne areas, and in February Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the North Island of New Zealand and aected parts of Vanuatu and Australia. Four commercial growers are located in Hawke’s Bay and will not know the extent of the damage to their crops until they harvest about a month from now, according to Potatoes NZ spokesperson Gemma Carroll. She said there was likely to be less marketable yield than usual as a result of the extreme weather and rainfall in the North Island. Crops could be aected by waterlogging, could rot in the ground or later in storage, and they might also be more susceptible to pests and disease, if soil has been washed away and exposed them to the elements. In a recent announcement to its members, Potatoes NZ said: “February has continued to hit our country and our industry with the havoc of another cyclone - a cyclone unlike any we’ve experienced before,” adding: “Friends, families/whānau and colleagues pick up the pieces in many areas of the north island.” Advice on harvesting or salvaging contaminated crops is being oered by New Zealand Food Safety (MPI) and Horticulture NZ, while the Rural Support Trust is oering growers access to wellbeing and social support, as well as business and financial advice, and care packages. Around half of New Zealand’s potatoes were produced in Canterbury and Westland, with Manawatu and Auckland together growing another quarter of the total crop, according to Potatoes NZ’s 2022 report. The country grew 456,072 tonnes of potatoes on 8951 hectares, with an average yield of 51 tonnes per hectare.