Whereas in June 2018 it was clear that the entire potato harvest all over Europe would be a disaster, this year the situation is a lot more |
complicated. There are differences per country, per region, per village, yet even per farm. This has everything to do with the irregular local |
rainfall or to an even higher extent the lack of it. | | | | | | | | | |
Also the type of soil plays a role, with very poor results on sandy soils. | | | | | | | |
After the dramatic situation in 2018, plenty of farmers had massively invested in irrigation equipment, but the widely spread official ban on |
pumping ground waters curtailed the plans and considerably hit the expected yields in Flanders, North of France and parts of Central Germany. |
The higher acreage may partly compensate for the loss of yield per hectare, but this will only become clear once the harvest is completed all |
over Europe. | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Test liftings made in Belgium after 111 days of growth show following figures : | | | | | | |
| Bintje variety : | estimated 34 tons per hectare, which is 4 tons per hectare below the 10-years average | | |
| | | regrowth on all 17 test fields | | | | | | | | |
| Fontane variety : | estimated 43 tons per hectare in Flanders against 34 tons per hectare in Wallonia, the latter could be caused |
| | | by later planting. The figures would be close to the past 5-years average, on condition the yield per hectare in |
| | | Wallonia keeps growing in the weeks to follow to catch up for the backlog. | | | |
| | | No regrowth found. | | | | | | | | | |
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Bearing in mind the above, it remains very difficult to forecast the general outcome in North-Western Europe. After 3-4 weeks of liftings, more |
reliable figures should become available by the end of September. | | | | | | | |
Prices have come down when compared to season 2018/19, but the overall expected price collapse is out of question. It does not look like price |
levels of harvest season 2017/18 will even come near. | | | | | | | | |
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