It’s an essential British food – a key component of national dishes like fish and chips and the Sunday roast. But there are worrying signs that the UK’s farmers are starting to turn their backs on the potato, leading to predictions of higher prices and shortages for the British consumer, as Lucie Heath writes in this iNews report.
Potatoes are typically planted in the spring to be harvested from late August to October. However, many farmers have already taken the decision to reduce the amount of land they will devote to Britain’s favourite vegetable this year, while some have decided to abandon potatoes entirely.
Cedric Porter, managing editor of World Potato Markets, estimates there will be a 10 per cent reduction in the land being used to grow potatoes in 2023, which could lead to a 10 per cent reduction in the harvest come October.
This comes on top of a “historically low” harvest in 2022, which Mr Porter said was caused both by farmers planting less of the crop and a summer drought. He expects prices could soon go up by more than 10 per cent because of the problems.
A source: https://www.potatonewstoday.com/
