With more than half of the potatoes left in the ground, potato growers in Northern Ireland fear a harvest drama. Due to extremely wet weather conditions, the growers are unable to enter their land, Spudsmart reports.
If conditions do not improve, the 2017 harvest will be one of the worst in recent history. Normally almost the entire harvest has been harvested by the end of October, but now it is not even half.
Stop and start again
The season didn't start well in July and it has been a struggle ever since. A grower reports that he started the harvest in August and then had to stop on and off. "The machines cannot enter the field. If we cannot harvest quickly, we risk losing the potatoes because they have been wet for more than 24 hours."
Shortage of storage
The wet conditions have destroyed much of his crop. Of the potatoes he does eat, 10% are lost due to greenery. The Irishman estimates the total damage at €150.000.
In other parts of the UK, the harvest problems are not too bad, but there are other challenges. For example, there is a shortage of storage options due to the high yields.