First crop looks good, after mild winter

Thursday 20 March 2014

The first outdoor crop of Jersey’s famous spuds has been lifted, and despite a wet start to the year growers are “upbeat about the season ahead”.

The Jersey Royal Company dug the royals from a small, sheltered patch on the east of the Island near St Catherine, and say they are very happy with the quality of the crop.

Director of Sales and Marketing William Church said: "It is a good sample with a high number of tubers per plant. The potatoes that were planted in good ground have benefitted from a very mild winter and have grown on well."

The largest exporter of Jersey Royals will be lifting potatoes in a few other small areas over the next couple of weeks. But heavy rain at the start of the year means work won’t start to dig up potatoes on the bigger côtils until early April.

Mr Church said: "The rain in early February did heavily impact the sequential planting programme, and that means that there is likely to be a slightly longer lead time before the main promotional activity with retailers, but we are generally upbeat about the season ahead."