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This year, Jersey famers took the decision to export fewer potatoes in an effort to get a better price and improve soil health... So how did the season go?
From a selling and marketing perspective, this worked well, with the whole crop sold.
Farmers also managed to negotiate a better price from the supermarkets to help cover their own rising costs.
However, it was challenging season for growing, particularly in the final stages of planting, when a long run of fair weather was replaced by rain in late March, as Jersey Farmers Union President Peter Le Maistre explained...
“We got off to a good start with a fair spell of weather in February and March. We made good speed but the last 20% of seed took a long time to go in," he said.
“Lifting went reasonably well but we had a lot of rain around the time of the Coronation and Liberation breaks and all growers were affected by blight, which came in the late-planted crop.
“We spray less than we used to, but sometimes the weather catches you out.”
He added: “Yields from mid-June were disappointing and that was due to damage caused by the persistent easterly winds in April and May.
Pictured: JFU President Peter Le Maistre: "We all chose to grow less and rotate more this year".
“The overall impression from growers was that this season was better than the one before but not a great one, because of those yields at the end.
“We all chose to grow less and rotate more this year. It was the right thing to do but, if I’m honest, we would have been pleased to have the extra potatoes because the demand was there.”
Commenting on that demand, Mr Le Maistre said: “People want our product, which is firstly down to the fact that we firmly believe that we have the best potato, and secondly, because farmers across Europe were growing fewer of them.
“If you can grow potatoes or cereals, you are going to choose cereals because that will pay more, with all the problems in Ukraine.”
He added: “Our farmers managed to get a bit more out of the market this season. They asked the supermarkets for more support to cover their own rising costs and, for the first time in a long time, the supermarkets agreed.
“Jersey Royals were more expensive in the supermarkets than last year. The supermarkets did absorb the increased costs at times, but I think they also did fewer promotions.
“That higher price was important because growing potatoes is an expensive business. For example, fertiliser was £280 a tonne in 2021, last year it went up to £580 a tonne, and now it is £800 a tonne.”
Pictured: There is more collaboration between potato and dairy farmers to plant grass for grazing, which improves soil health.
Mr Le Maistre said that the industry was striving to reduce its reliance on fertiliser by rotating crops more and strengthening links with dairy farmers to put fields to grass more often.
He added that feedback on the taste of Jersey Royals had been very positive this year, despite the wetter season.
Most of seed for next year has now been dug ready for standing in mid-October. Barley, wheat and maize have been planted and are currently being harvested, or are close to being ready for harvest.
The agricultural sector has consistently raised concerns about rising overheads, including the increasing cost of labour and the level of minimum wage.
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