“Unprecedented” crop delay and loss – Yield could be up to 20% lower
The jersey royal potato’s short season, usually from April to mid-July, has been affected by hard frosts and almost double the 30-year average of rainfall in December and January, which growers say left the ground saturated and “undesirable for planting”.
The Jersey Royal is Jersey’s biggest crop export, accounting for around 70% of agricultural turnover, according to Wikipedia. Ninety-nine percent of production is exported to the United Kingdom
Jersey normally exports around 30,000 tonnes of the potatoes to the UK each season, but producers say the figure could be up to 20% lower this year.
“The hard frosts we received from the beast from the east affected most of the early crops,” said Tim Ward, operations director at the grower Albert Bartlett. “We are at least three weeks behind our expected start date and are still in need of spring to arrive to avoid further delays.
The Jersey Royal Company’s director of sales and marketing, William Church, said the crop delay and loss was unprecedented in his experience.
The post Severe winter weather postpones potato season by at least three weeks appeared first on Ice Age Now.
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April 6, 2018 at 08:42PM
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