Ireland: Potato Output Rises 4.5% to 384,900 Tonnes While Area Shrinks to 8,900 Hectares
Irish growers harvested 384,900 tonnes of potatoes in 2025 on 8,900 hectares, official data show. Higher yields kept output up while the area kept falling.
Ireland produced 384,900 tonnes of potatoes in 2025, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This was 16,600 tonnes, or 4.5%, more than in 2024. The planted area fell by 400 hectares, or 4%, to 8,900 hectares. The average yield rose from 39.6 to 43.1 tonnes per hectare.
Eurostat publishes a lower figure for the same year: 363,430 tonnes from 8,920 hectares, with a yield of 40.7 tonnes per hectare. Both sources show the same pattern: a stable crop from a smaller area.
A small area with high yields
The long trend is clear. In 2005, Irish farms planted 11,790 hectares and harvested 409,200 tonnes, according to Eurostat. By 2025, the area was about a quarter smaller. The yield rose from 34.7 tonnes per hectare in 2005 to more than 40 tonnes in recent years. This kept total output close to 360,000–410,000 tonnes in most years. Weak years still happen: in 2012, output fell to 232,000 tonnes, and in 2018 to 273,000 tonnes.
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Teagasc, the state farm advisory body, says the crop now covers just over 9,000 hectares. In 1850, it covered 332,000 hectares. Teagasc says about 70% of the maincrop area is planted with one variety, Rooster. It puts the farm-gate value of the crop at about €85 million a year.
Demand and market
Teagasc estimates that the Irish eat about 85 kg of potatoes per person each year. This is down from 140 kg in the 1990s. In the retail market, Bord Bia and Kantar data showed sales of €219 million in the 12 months to November 2024, up 27.6% in value and 5.3% in volume. Rooster had 61.5% of sales.
The CSO release does not break production down by county. Eurostat data point to further decline in 2026: the planted area is listed at 8,340 hectares. In July 2026, Teagasc said the maincrop area was about 7,000 hectares, down 700 hectares from 2025.
Why it matters
Ireland shows how a small potato sector can hold output steady with fewer hectares. Better yields have covered the loss of area for 20 years. But the base is now thin. Teagasc has warned that if the maincrop area drops much below 7,000 hectares, the economics of the whole sector could be at risk.
For suppliers of seed, storage and crop protection, the market is small and concentrated. For buyers, a smaller area means that one bad season can cut supply quickly, as 2012 and 2018 showed.
Photo: A potato field in the British Isles (illustrative). Sandy Gerrard / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
