Major differences in potato harvest progress

Especially in Belgium, growers have made – finally you could say – good progress with the harvesting. Rainfall there plagued the harvest and it is still quite wet. In the graph of Aviko, the progress has shot up from 60% to almost 80% of the area that has been harvested. With that, France has even been surpassed.

In the Netherlands, it is a tight 10% that had to go into the barn at Aviko growers before the weekend. Germany was quite far ahead of the other countries, but is now somewhat stuck, with 15% still to be harvested. In the United Kingdom, 20% is also still in the ground.

Progress a little slower
The harvest progress in the Netherlands and Belgium is ahead of last year. That is not surprising, given the dramatic situation then. If we look at the two years before that, the harvesting is less advanced. Of course, that is due to the sometimes very late planting dates of the potatoes. Crops are sometimes necessarily harvested green.

Maximizing the good days. This morning suddenly 6 liters of rain... Now back to work pic.twitter.com/JoF3DqQz2T

— Roger van Hoven (@rogervanhoven) October 25, 2024

In the north of France, especially in the coastal areas, it is quite wet. 30% of the potatoes are still in the ground there. Despite the fact that harvesting started on time, persistent rainfall makes it difficult to harvest the last hectares. In the meantime, water is standing between the ridges in places. Harvesting, when possible, is difficult and growers are struggling with the quality and to get the product dry.

Do not panic
In our country too, it is still very wet locally. This is the case in the east of the Netherlands, Brabant and Limburg. This hampers the smooth progress of the harvesting and has consequences for the quality. Growers want to have the potatoes inside, but there is certainly no panic. The weather forecasts continue to give stable, dry weather at the beginning of November. This means that all plots can be harvested.

The yields are very heterogeneous and differ per plot and variety. Some potatoes planted later show excellent kilos on sandy soil. What is planted in June or even later often produces a disappointment, although there are exceptions. Also on the clay soils in the (south)west of the country the yields can sometimes be called very moderate.