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The north's maincrop potato harvest is now 80% complete, however recent heavy rainfall has slowed up progress with growers hoping to lift the remaining crop before the arrival of frosts in November.
Wilson's Country agronomist Stuart Meredith said the progress made with this year's harvest up to now is on a par with that achieved in 2024. He said the recent heavy rains have held up harvesting in all areas but up until now it has been non-stop harvesting. He added: "As we move into November there is an increased risk of frosts so the sooner we get the remaining 20% lifted the better as the quality of the product in the ground can deteriorate quite quickly."
There are a number of quality related issues relating to the 2025 maincrop harvest. Bruising is one of these that will have an impact on packing yields, the agronomist confirmed, and again this is very much a weather related issue, directly associated with the lack of moisture over the summer months. As potato crops come under moisture stress, the dry matter content within the tubers below the ground rises rapidly, as was the case this year in some areas. Unfortunately, this leads to black bruises under the skin of the potatoes during the harvesting process. However, with the higher dry matter comes a flourier, better tasting potato for the consumer.
Where 2025 potato yields are concerned, it's very much a north south split. Stuart Meredith said all potato crops came under significant moisture stress as they were bulking up, which was a direct consequence of the dry summer weather. However, crops grown in lighter soils, such as those prevalent in South County Down, were more badly affected than was the case in places like Northern Antrim, where the heavier clay soils are more moisture-retentive.
Across the board, the Wilson's Country agronomist is projecting an average potato yield of 18 tonnes per acre off the field, and that's pretty representative of what would be expected in a normal year. The company's own potato acreage is up slightly this year, which reflects their growing commitment to salad potatoes, including the varieties Venezia and Empress. These salad varieties were planted out later than maincrop varieties but harvested at an earlier date.
Stuart Meredith concluded that prices are very much supply and demand driven. With around 20% of the potatoes in Northern Ireland and around 40% of Rooster in the Republic of Ireland still to be harvested, it's still too early to predict what the market will do.
