The potatoes that were planted in May and June appear to be struggling with a (sometimes considerable) backlog. This is evident from the most recent trial harvest figures. The Belgian potato plots with just under a hundred growing days show a yield in early September that is normally achieved in late July.
Just like in the figures of VTA, the spread between crops in the Belgian figures is also enormous. It ranges from 13 to 71 tonnes per hectare gross. This is evident from the most recent data from Viaverda, Fiwap, Carah and the other Belgian organisations. It concerns 36 plots in Flanders and Wallonia with Fontane that were sampled. Fontane is by far the largest potato variety in our southern neighbours.
Heterogeneous
Logically, the potato plots that were planted earlier are doing better than those that went into the ground in May and June. However, the heterogeneity within plots is very large, Viaverda notes. Almost every potato grower is familiar with the picture this year: a flooded headland, low spot or areas with structural damage. That makes it all the more difficult to take a representative trial harvest. Where do you sample and what corresponds to practice? Losses due to seed potato problems also cause differences between plants. But few plots are 'squarely' in good shape this year. That can sometimes lead to nasty surprises.
On average, the sampled plots of Fontane come to 35,6 tonnes per hectare at the beginning of September, with a very large spread. After 99 growing days, that is an average of 35 tonnes, which means that the crop growth is not noticeably better or worse. However, if you look at the date, a considerable difference of 26% is noticeable. The multi-year average is 48 tonnes at the beginning of September.
Ripening
The crops planted in April show a small increase in kilos compared to the previous sampling. For the plots planted in May, this is 380 kilos per day (42 tons per hectare) and for the plots planted in June, this is 700 kilos per day. According to the researchers, it is striking that the plots planted in May are also ripening strongly, which is slowing down growth. The ripening of the early plots is 70% and of those from May 50%. The very late plots are still very green and sometimes even still in full bloom.
As expected, the coarseness of the late plots lags behind. There, a good 60% is now in the size 50 millimeters upwards. The earlier crops reach 78% or more. The underwater weight was on average 387 grams, although it should be noted that more than half of the plots have not yet reached 360 grams. Very high values of up to 469 grams are also measured. The quality of the tubers can be called good. There is minimal growth cracking and throughgrowth does not occur. The potatoes also bake well.
Risks
Of the 36 sampled plots, 19 were planted in June and 13 in May. Only four in April. If that is representative for the whole of Belgium, the yield could be very disappointing in many places. As previously written it all depends on the regrowth. What will happen in the next thirty to forty days. The weather has a major influence on this. In addition, it is also a question of how much risk you want to take and when you spray a crop to death and start harvesting it. That period also takes time. It is becoming increasingly clear that the late plots will have a lot of trouble achieving an average yield.
Aviko figures
Aviko Potato also sampled its potato plots in the Netherlands in week 36. They follow the growth curve of 2023 with a gross yield that is now just above 50 tons per hectare. This is comparable to 2023 and 2022, where the potatoes can still produce a few tons in the coming four weeks.
The coarseness remains significantly behind with a percentage of 70% that is now 50 millimeters or coarser. That is very low for this time, where it is normally already above 80%. The underwater weight has increased to an average of 400 grams in a week, which shows that the plots are busy ripening.