Wilson’s Country agronomist, Stuart Meredith, has confirmed that the 2024 main crop potato harvest is now underway in Northern Ireland.
“Despite the cold, late spring and consequently, the slow emergence of the 2024 crop, it has been a great year for potatoes so far.
“Rainfall amounts have been moderate at the right times,” Meredith said.
To date, early planted main crops have been yielding average or slightly above average t/ac.
“Grower costs continue to increase. It has also been a tricky blight year. The potential of the disease to impact on crops has been consistently high.
“This has required potato growers to spray for blight on a weekly basis. In addition, it is only the most expensive chemistries that are delivering the required levels of blight control. And his, again, is adding significantly to the cost of growing potatoes,” Meredith added.
One of the most interesting trends emanating from the 2024 main crop potato season has been the range of responses generated by different fertilisers on crops.
“It’s now evident that crops grown with chemical fertilisers are senescing much earlier than those grown with the use of organic manures,” the Wilson’s Country agronomist commented.
“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.”
Potato harvest
According to Meredith, the acreage of potatoes grown across the island of Ireland in 2024 is up year-on-year. He further explained:
“This is due to the fact that the late spring had deterred many growers from planting a cereal crop.
“The strength of the market earlier in the year also encouraged farmers to increase the area of potatoes they would normally grow.
“While the current spell of good weather is to be welcomed, it will do very little to bulk potato crops at this stage,” he said.
The Wilson’s agronomist made these comments while visiting the Rathfriland farm of Alistair Moore.
Both took the opportunity of walking a crop of Elland, the tops of which had been flailed off.
“Yields have been good up to his point. Ground conditions for harvesting have been excellent. But we 2024 harvest has only started and a lot can still happen between now and the end of the season,” he added.
Elland is an early maturing main crop variety, producing high quality potatoes.
Meredith continued: “The variety is also resistant to Potato Cyst Nematode.
“It is extremely versatile variety at this time of the year. Up to now we have been packing and processing potatoes for the market with produce coming in straight from the field.
“However, with the harvest now building real momentum, we will be placing potatoes into store from this week onwards.
“Overall, the business continues to experience strong demand for potatoes from both the prepack and processing sectors.”
