Irrigation costs ’making UK potato growers question the future’

What are the key trends and talking points in the British potato sector at the moment?

It’s difficult not to focus on the immediate points we are all facing at the moment. The industry is lagging behind on contracts, which is placing false supply-and-demand requirements on the industry. After the last three months of last year, which saw growers throwing potatoes away or stock-feeding them, the market has not really caught up again. The concern among growers is that this will continue and growers may struggle to recover the costs to grow the 2025 crop.

As growers, we are seeing unpredictable weather patterns, and this year has been the driest for some time. We have, in places, applied 70 per cent more irrigation water to crops just to hit budgeted yields. This is a massive cost that is sadly not recoverable. I know food inflation is high, and we need to be managing this, but unforeseen costs are often enough to make farmers question the longevity of potato growing in the UK. Cash flow and risk are the main challenges involved in growing potatoes.

Seed production and availability seem to have recovered, which means there is extra seed available to grow extra crop. Having an oversupply in the UK then increases the risk involved and increases costs. Often crop is stored later than planned and top quality is essential to sell all the potatoes.

Controlling PCN in the coming years will also be a real challenge as we are due to lose one on the main active ingredients. This may well reduce the available area in the UK.

How have hot, dry growing conditions affected UK potato yields and quality this year?

Firstly, we had a great early season that allowed efficient planting, without rain disrupting outputs. Soil conditions were good, and crops got off to a great start. However, since 1 March, we have only had an average of 200mm rainfall throughout the business compared to previous years when we had an average of 340mm. The impact of this is felt throughout the whole of the growing season and we therefore have had to be very reliant on irrigation.

Many of the crops we have grown have received 12 irrigation passes, which is almost double our budgeted allocation. While radiation levels have been good, the crops have had a stressful season, which has impacted total yield and quality. For example, the industry has seen secondary growth, black scurf, and tuber sizes have been unpredictable. Often farmers and growers have visibility of the problems that are coming up, which can relate to condition and sizing of the crop. By the time the market or consumers understand this, it is a six-month delay.

There were reports of low potato prices amid high stock levels held by growers, reduced consumption and limited free-buy purchasing. How did this affect the market and what is the situation now?

The marketplace in April 2025 onwards seemed to shift. We have seen demand decline, which resulted in uncontracted crop flooding the market in an order to lock in a sale. This seems to have been the situation both in the UK and Europe, putting surplus volume into the market, and we have still not recovered.

The UK and European markets are now being affected by lower cost production countries such as China and India which are increasing potato production and exporting around the world, leading to oversupply in the UK and Europe. There was also a significant rollover of last year’s crop into this year’s due to surplus and uncontracted crop.

In the UK there has been a decline in potato plantings in recent years. Has this trend continued over the past year and why? Is it leading to a rise in imports at certain points in the year?

Five years ago, the UK was growing around six million tonnes of potatoes. Although the stats are unclear, we do feel the UK now produces around 4.7m tonnes. This figure may well have increased in 2024-2025 and it is unclear whether this will continue to recover to the previous tonnage.

In reality though, the UK requirement is about 4.5-5 million tonnes, so there is still a significant volume imported to the UK that is fresh crop for packing and salads from May to July. There is also a very large volume of finished French fries produced in Europe. It is unlikely that any volume now produced outside the UK will return to being grown in UK soils. If anything, the danger is that more will be imported, leading to less tonnage being grown in the UK.

Generally speaking, how prepared are UK potato growers when it comes to water security? How efficient are their irrigation methods and what support do they need from government to help them invest in this area?

The exact stats are unclear on how much UK potato area is irrigated. Some figures suggest 65 per cent is irrigated, but of that 65 per cent potentially only 40 per cent is has capacity to allow 12 passes on the crop.

This year has shown how vulnerable the UK is when it comes to accessing secure water. In many cases, growers were unable to access river or ground water, and reservoirs were empty by the middle of June. This is one of the key priorities in our business, and we are working strategically on new water security projects for both ourselves and other growers.

In the UK we have a climate that sees us often receive excess water in the winter, which is a problem for government agencies and water companies to manage, however currently there are limited systems in place to allow farmers and growers to intercept these high water levels and put the water into new purpose-built reservoirs and irrigation infrastructures.

This is a project we have been working on for several years but there is frustration with the lack of joined up thinking between government agencies, water companies and other stakeholders. So, there is too much water in the winter, not enough in the summer, and many growers and farmers I have spoken to are willing to invest time and money in projects that would ultimately work towards better water security in the UK.

What other measures are you taking to mitigate climate change?

Ultimately, we are focusing on efficiencies across all operations – for example, less diesel usage and fertilisers and investing in new storage that requires less energy. We are also always looking at reducing wastage and ensuring that as much of the crop as possible is saleable. We are trying to increase saleable yield through higher yielding varieties which require us to reduce our total planted area.

There have been good steps in variety development in the last five years, and there is excitement around the opportunities we now have with gene editing, particularly focused on virus, bruising and PCN, as well as yield enhancement. All will lead to greater saleable yield and less pesticide input, with a reduction in the total land area required but with the same volume output.

How are you embracing regenerative agriculture on your farms? Where do you see scope for growers to make their production methods more sustainable?

Regen farming is a challenge for many businesses who don’t control the whole land rotation. We produce crops on land we do not own but we work closely with landowners to influence healthy choices on the land and in the soil. We are in a privileged position in that we work closely with our blue-chip customers, with a particular focus on cover cropping, naturally produced fertilisers, and yield enhancement through varietal development. This helps reduce the need for artificial NP&K on the crops.

There has been a lot of work trialled over the last three years to understand cultivation and planting techniques and establish whether new technologies allow us to plant potatoes while moving less soil at a shallower depth. This is a project we have been working closely with, but it is very soil-specific. Some soil types cope better with certain operations than others.

We have all been trying to maximise daily outputs by investing in larger self-propelled harvesters, specifically in the last few years when we have seen wet autumns and the challenges they can bring with harvesting the crop. But there is always going to be a balance between utilising efficient machinery and the impact on the quality of crop. It has been seen that larger harvesters can bruise crop much more easily.

What new technologies are transforming the way that potatoes are grown and harvested to make production more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable?

Growers are always looking for perfection, and we are in a position now where we have more tools available than ever before to help us with this. This includes things such as soil and crop monitoring to enable us to understand exactly what the soil condition is prior to planting, so that only the perfect levels of inputs can be applied.

Healthy seed is also important, as is knowing exactly how many stem and tuber numbers a certain variety will produce. This then dictates the total density per hectare that needs to be planted.

Accurate and intense crop monitoring during growing is vital so that we only apply what the crop needs and when. There are also fantastic technologies available to help us monitor leaf health and tissue. Meanwhile, satellite ground cover monitoring enables us to combine irrigation scheduling with ground soil probes and ensure we are being efficient and supplying the crops with the correct amounts of water. We can also understand potential yield and tuber sizes and variations across fields by linking satellite imagery with tractor GPS technology.

What are the key pest and disease challenges facing UK growers this season and how big an impact are they having on the quality of this year’s crop?

In the fresh sector we are seeing increased levels of wire worm. This is a major pest that tunnels its way into the potato and leaves a hole. These potatoes are then unsalable and not suitable for their original end market. The science around wire worm is improving, but the ability to control them is non-existent. New treatments may be available in the coming years, but we are not sure how reliable these will be yet.

Another concern is the control of PCN. Growers have in the past had tools available to treat patches in fields with high PCN counts, but this chemistry will be discontinued in the coming years. This may lead to reduced potato land availability or a requirement to extend the rotation to rest the land. Bruising this season is also causing a challenge due to the hot, dry weather. The dry matter of the potatoes is high, which means they are difficult to handle without bruising them. Some of the bigger self-propelled harvesters are being parked up and the smaller, gentler harvesters are lifting the crop. This impacts outputs and increases costs.

Which new potato varieties are showing the greatest promise and what are their main benefits for growers and consumers?

Varieties that can produce high yields are key to the UK’s potato production. Sensible yields will allow growers to control cost inflation and the more consistent saleable yield we can achieve from each hectare of land, the more we can control cost.

In the small salad potato sector, we are always looking for high stem and tuber numbers so we can produce a good saleable sample. This is more achievable now that new manageable varieties have come to the market.

In the general packing market, old varieties such as Maris Piper, which are difficult agronomically, are becoming less favourable options for growers. There are better, less challenging varieties available now, which growers favour. The challenge is that consumers recognise Maris Piper and it is a slow process to move them away from it.

How is Greens of Soham helping to bring the next generation of talent into the potato sector?

Greens was a founding member of the MDS scheme back in 1986 and through the scheme we have had many people join the business and stay with us for the early part of their career or remain with us until this day. For several years running we have also hosted Harper Adams students to work with us for 15 months and put into practice what they have learned at university and gain some practical skills.

More recently we have had apprentices join us, with some joining as 16-year-olds fresh from their GCSEs to learn the basics and gain their tractor licences and others who were already in the business wanting to formalise their learning.

We are keen on always encouraging the next generation into the industry and we are not afraid to invest in these people if they are learning and enjoying the process – even if that means they then need to move on to explore the wider industry. The potato sector and farming in general are always evolving, and we need to ensure we provide as much opportunity as possible both for individuals from a farming background and those with no farming experience.

I am also proud that Greens has hosted many school visits and will continue to do so, to ensure that from an early age children are given an insight into the industry.