Dry weather damages farmers' potato crops

There could be "issues" in the number of potatoes this harvest because of the dry, hot conditions from the summer, a farmer has said.

Kate Mayne, from Ruyton-XI-Towns in Shropshire, is a potato agronomist, which is a specialist science dedicated to the crop's production and soil management.

She said farmers are under pressure as the lack of water has meant there would not be as many potatoes as usual, and those harvested may not be as high quality.

It comes as the Met Office said this summer is on course to be the UK's hottest on record. It has also been the driest July in both England and Wales since records began in 1836.

Farmers all across the country have said they are facing huge losses, and have struggled to get water on their crop.

Mayne, who is also Shropshire's National Farmers Union county chair, said groundwater supplies are not getting replenished so there could be a risk farms could struggle to irrigate.

"The farmers are trying to keep up with the demand that the crop would have to make sure that it grows but they're really struggling to do that," she added.

"[It is because] the sheer intensity of the heat [and] the fact we have not had any rainnfor goodness know how long."

She added because of the peaks in temperature, there are hours during the middle of the day when potatoes cannot grow.

She added the size of the potatoes grown could also have an impact

"We expect as a consumer and the processors, like Walkers and McCain's, for certain size of potato.

"When we do import potatoes, they tend to come from from within Europe but they have suffered just as we have."

Ross on Wye farmer Ben Savidge said he has seen similar issues on his farm.

His potato yields are down by "40 to 50 percent in places" because he does not have access to irrigation.

Savidge said he has been having to use his water "efficiently" and has started building another reservoir.

"We have got to certainly become more resilient as a farming industry because we're having more and more years like this there's no doubt," he said.

Farmers like him need to adapt, he said.

"We are having more and more rainfall in the winter which needs to be better captured so we've put a lot of investment over the last 12 months," he said.

"We have also built two smaller catchment ponds to capture that water and then we will be pumping all of that up to a new purpose built reservoir which is going to double our current water storage."

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