Damp-hurt harvest sends UK potato stocks tumbling

Unfavourable weather conditions have led Britain's potato stocks to drop almost 20% year-on-year, according to the Potato Council – cautioning over setbacks already this year thanks to poor weather too.

Latest estimates showed that British potato growers stocks totalled 2.7m tonnes at the end of November 2012, a fall of 18% compared with the 3.3m tonnes a year before.

The fall was a reflection of a harvest sapped by "mainly adverse [weather] conditions", with the Potato Council reporting "snow and wintery showers followed by some periods of heavy rain,"and resulted in unfavourable ground conditions, still "too wet for any land work".

Potato production last year posted a 24% reduction on 2011 levels to 4.64m tonnes.

Meanwhile, the extension of the wet conditions has plagued farmers with early-sown crops in 2013 too, in the south west of England, where a warmer climate and sandy soils encourage farmers to cash in on higher-priced early-season crops.

"Wet weather again hampered planting in Cornwall"last week, the council said, although at the weekend "conditions improved allowing activities to gain momentum".

The wet weather is also hampering growers who have crops left over from 2012 still to lift, and which they are attempting to clear in time for the spring planting season.