County Down potato grower in Northern Ireland, William Gilmore has described the month of March as “a write-off”, as producers warn of potential shortages and increasing prices.
As Louise Cullen, BBC NI agriculture and environment correspondent reports, “It is frustrating for everybody and all the farmers in the area are getting very edgy,” he said. “There’s a lot of finance at stake for everybody and they’re getting quite worried about the whole situation.”
The poor weather means a delay of “a month or six weeks” in growth and production, which is “really frustrating”, says Angus Wilson of Wilson’s Country.
And it is not just Northern Ireland grappling with the weather. “It looks as if, across Europe, it’s going to be a very difficult market for the next probably three months,” said Mr Wilson.
Mr Gilmore said a perfect storm of seed potato shortages, less land available for growing and last year’s cold store crop already exhausted meant buyers would feel the impact as well as farmers.
Source: BBC. Read the full story here
Photo: William Gilmore says a Northern Ireland potato is a scarce commodity this year. Credit BBC
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