United Kingdom potato growers 'very worried' as homegrown crop shortage looms

UK consumers may face a home-grown potatoes shortage next year as stocks run out due to new storage rules.

Experts fear a 12-week gap could open up in the UK supply in 2020 as a result of the loss of the main chemical used on stored spuds.

But Suffolk farmers could play a critical role in helping to solve the problem, as an advice group for growers tries to work out potential solutions which can be used on-farm.

Farm levy payers' organisation, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), has chosen James Foskett Farms Ltd at Bromeswell, near Woodbridge, to be its next Strategic Potato (SPot) Farm East host, starting from September 1, 2019.

It takes over where the Elveden Estate - the previous host - leaves off in looking at how to help potato growers through the problems they face, and finding ways to produce the crop sustainably - and profitably.

Staff retention was an area AHDB has been focusing on for some time, launching a professional management development scheme (PMDS) in 2010 to address the perceived gap in people management training within the industry, he said.

Speaker and PMDS graduate Rob Heywood of Frederick Hiam Ltd said availability of labour was becoming a major concern for growers, and recommended businesses try the course.

Mike and James said it had been a "good day", and they were pleased with the turnout. The farm employs 25 permanent staff and 74 seasonal workers and retention was good, said Mike, partly as a result of opportunities to rise through the ranks. Around half the core staff was from England, with staff from Rumania, Latvia and Bulgaria making up the rest.

On the chemicals site, James Foskett Farms has organic as well as conventional crops, providing growers with a useful baseline for looking at alternative methods for dealing with pests and diseases.

James Foskett:

“It's even more of a gamble than growing conventional crops and your management and skillset and the equipment you have has to be a step ahead of most conventional growers.”

“There's no fire engine treatment - you have to get it right.”