The area of potatoes grown in Ireland has been decimated over the last 30 years. Even more striking is the reduction in the number of potato growers in that period.
he reduction in the area of potatoes grown is often put down to the decline of potato consumption here. This is true to a certain extent, but as a society we consume a lot more potatoes than other European countries and it's still by far our most important staple food.
Over the last 30 years, the three most important trends in the potato industry in Ireland have been:
■ the introduction of the Rooster variety;
■ the move to washed potatoes at the point of sale;
■ the complete domination of the our food supply chain by the supermarket / intermediary supply system.
When the Rooster was first introduced, it had a reputation for high dry matter and an 'eats well' quality.
From a producer perspective, it is a high yielder and also stores well. It was seen a 'win-win' for the industry and was soon the dominant variety.
The washing of potatoes prior to sale was convenient for the consumer and presented a more attractive product. Most importantly, it focused the management of soil and tare (potato waste) away from the general wastewater management systems of towns and cities to specific washing plants, where they could more easily be managed and controlled.
The red skin of the Rooster, when washed, looks attractive, but any surface blemishes that may be on the potato are exaggerated. While not affecting the eating attributes of the potato in any way, the whole concept of 'potato quality' was redefined by the exposure of these blemishes.
To address these blemishes, a whole raft of new technologies had to be employed. They were implemented on an 'all or nothing basis'. These included the use of early generation seed, cold storage, stone and clod separation in the planting bed, mechanical harvesting, fresh land, sophisticated graders and handling systems, and direct supply chains.
All of these production aspects incurred huge up-front costs for producers regardless of output scale.
In tandem with this, the supermarket retailers became increasingly dominant, and now trade practically all the 'ware' potatoes consumed in the country.
The supermarkets demonstrated complete lack of loyalty to their supplier intermediaries, who in turn showed complete lack of loyalty to producers.
This created a situation where growers were being forced to invest six- and seven-figure sums to produce a product with no guaranteed outlet.
There are also other factors impacting on the industry in Ireland.
Where once we exported seed potatoes, now we are completely reliant on imported seed to grow our ware produce.
We used to have a factory producing frozen chips; it's now closed, and all frozen chips are imported.
The 'fresh chips' for chippers up and down the country are also all imported.
Niche lines like salad potatoes are sourced predominantly from other countries.
The potatoes required to supply all these outlets are now grown overseas.
So what is the future for the potato growers still hanging on in the industry?
On the plus side, the unrelenting pressures of the last 30 years show signs of stabilising.
Scaled up
Consumption is increasing, supply chains have settled down and growers have scaled up enough to exert some back pressure on intermediaries and in turn retailers.
The focus is turning on provenance, and local supply chains are becoming more important.
Most of the imports come from the UK, which is now classified as a 'third country', requiring stringent phyto-sanitary regulations for all imported fresh produce, especially potatoes.
This must be seized upon as an opportunity to bring new blood into the industry to supply the seed and the fresh chip and the salad potato market. We grow potatoes very well in this country, we consume a lot of potatoes in this country.
Surely it's not beyond the wit and imagination of the industry stakeholders to square this circle a bit more?
Richard Hackett is an agronomist based in north Co Dublin and is a member of the ITCA and ACA
July 21, 2020 at 08:30AM
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