Innovator posts lowest yield since 2018 in Dutch trial fields hit by heat and drought

The nine Innovator plots evaluated by Boerenbusiness Gewastour in 2026 averaged 46 tonnes per hectare — almost eight tonnes below the five-year mean and the lowest since the survey began in 2018. Final bulking was also the weakest of the series, with some fields gaining nothing after week 32.

Trials carried out by Boerenbusiness Gewastour on nine Innovator potato plots across the Netherlands recorded in 2026 the lowest average yield since the evaluations began in 2018, Argenpapa reports.

Persistent drought and high temperatures conditioned crop development, limited tuber growth and accelerated the end of the growing cycle in some regions. The average net yield of the nine plots reached 46 tonnes per hectare — almost eight tonnes less than the average of the last five years.

Since Boerenbusiness Gewastour began its survey, the result had never been so low. Even in 2018, another year characterised by extreme drought, the Innovator variety averaged 52.1 tonnes per hectare.

The results showed significant regional variability. The highest yield was obtained in Midwolda, with 65.6 tonnes per hectare, while the lowest corresponded to Voerendaal, with 32.5 tonnes.

From the intermediate evaluation carried out during week 32, the crops incorporated on average only 9.2 tonnes per hectare — also the lowest final growth recorded since the beginning of the series. In the plots located in IJzendijke and Voerendaal, final production came in even slightly below the intermediate measurement: in both cases the crops were already practically dry and had stopped growing during the summer.

The plots received between zero and six irrigations during the campaign. Although this practice reduced the moisture deficit on some farms, it could not prevent the effect of high temperatures on growth and the early ripening of the plants. Recorded maximum temperatures reached 37.6 °C in the south, 39 °C in the centre and 35.5 °C in the north of the Netherlands.

The study notes that growers are currently better prepared to face dry periods than in 2018, especially thanks to greater experience and irrigation capacity. However, extreme heat continued to represent a limitation that is difficult to control — a conclusion that will resonate beyond the Netherlands as processors across north-western Europe count the cost of the 2026 season.

Despite the low overall yield, 81 per cent of the evaluated production weight corresponded, on average, to tubers larger than 50 millimetres. By plot, this proportion ranged from the 63 per cent recorded in Appelscha to the 92 per cent reached in Midwolda — meaning that where the crop survived the heat, size distribution remained commercially useful for the fries industry that Innovator mainly serves.

The Gewastour figures add a varietal dimension to what harvest reports have been saying for weeks: the 2026 north-western European crop was not killed by water shortage alone but by heat that irrigation could not offset. For a processing variety like Innovator, the 46-tonne average sets a low benchmark against which contract volumes and raw material planning for the coming processing season will now be adjusted.

The spread between the best and worst plots — more than 33 tonnes per hectare between Midwolda and Voerendaal — also underlines how localised the season’s damage has been, with soil type, irrigation access and timing separating manageable losses from written-off fields.