News Potato harvest 2019
MARS: Potato harvest scores below average
In the MARS Bulletin of the month of August, drawn up by the European Commission, the European potato harvest is estimated to be lower in many countries than the average. Heat and drought are the cause of this.
Nearly all crops harvested in the fall experience yield reductions. In addition to potatoes, this includes sugar beet and maize. France and Poland are especially mentioned in the bulletin, because the drought damage here is extreme. In addition, the Benelux is also mentioned.
Potato harvest below average.
The average potato harvest in Europe is estimated by MARS to be 3,1% lower than the 5-year average. This means a yield of 32,7 tons per hectare, compared to 33,8 tons on average. The largest percentage reductions are for Austria (-9,4%), Germany (-8,8%) and Romania (-8,9%). In the bulletin, the Netherlands arrives at a reduction of 2,1%.
Belgium arrives at a reduction of 3,3% and France at 5,6%. In this country 40% can be irrigated, it writes. Despite the restrictions on the abstraction of irrigation water, cultivation has not suffered as a result. Denmark is the only country where yields are above the multi-year average, with a 5,5% increase in yield of 43,1 tons per hectare.
More dramatic than 2018
Compared to last year, potato yields are higher in almost all countries, because 2018 turned out to be dramatically bad. Poland is an exception to this. There the yield is almost 6% below last year and 6,5% below the average. For neighboring Romania, this is even 16% under 2018. Many potato plots here suffered from phytophthora due to warm and humid weather in July.
Due to ample rainfall in the United Kingdom and Ireland, these crops are doing well there, although there are problems with diseases due to the wet and sweltering weather. Locally, water damage has occurred in the plots.
Niels van der Boom
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.