Things can sometimes turn out differently than you expect. If this is evident anywhere, it is in potatoes. Are there enough potatoes to last the season until the new ones arrive, and what should become of the coming harvest? Those were the big questions this spring. However, the soup is not eaten as hot as it is served. It is sometimes said that potatoes are like weeds, and you would almost believe it when you see the situation in the country.
Potatoes have been planted here and there in a way that makes you say: if that's possible, we'll never have to look at anything again. It is not illogical that things are not going well there. In places where they have had flooding due to downpours, not everything has ended up well. Yet it is amazing how potatoes can grow in classic Dutch summer weather. Potatoes that were planted fairly early for this year - say until mid-May - have grown very fast. Make no mistake about the potatoes underneath, both in numbers and kilos.
We know it, but moisture during tuber formation determines the quantity and rain from above cannot be irrigated. It's going a bit far and the potatoes are still far from safe inside, but you could almost say that the seed potato shortages for next season have already largely been solved by a growing June. Another two weeks of this type of weather as predicted and there is already almost an average yield among the ware potatoes planted on time. Please note: the potatoes that are planted later - which is still a nice area, especially in the south - have a lot of catching up to do.
Growth doesn't come for free
The growing weather does come at a price. The disease pressure is extremely high. The plant produces new layers of leaves like crazy. It is a race to get protected. The depleted resources package causes quite a few headaches in a year like this. How do you keep a crop healthy and vital if the tools for it disappear little by little and little new takes their place?
The remarkable course of the growing season is also gaining some traction on the potato market. Belgapom kept the quote the same this week, but set the mood back to calm. Reka in Germany even went a step further and dropped the price to €60.
The quotation on the Reka is not a bad price at all (although as a grower you would of course prefer more) but no further increase to €65 or €70 as some growers speculated about. Selling what is not there is not possible, but the potato market has shown in the past that selling what is there is not always successful.