Potato Crop Update December

Posted on 22/12/2011 in News

The last potatoes of this year's harvest have now been picked and stored. High temperatures and drought in early spring led to dry soils and fast growing potatoes in April. The lack of rain throughout May and June then slowed down the growth of the potato crop.

Under normal conditions, every potato plant will grow 12 to 18 tubers. However, this season the average has been six to eight tubers per plant. Giving each tuber maximum room to grow, resulting in exceptionally large potatoes.

The rainy summer gave the crop a growth spurt; however these weather conditions can give translucent or hollow fries. During Aviko's quality control process these potatoes are removed from the production line.

The rainy summer washed away some of the soil on the potato beds, over-exposing the potatoes to daylight, leading to green spots. The potatoes with green spots are removed throughout the production process, however sometimes fries with green spots may find their way into packs, despite that fact that we do all we can to minimise this.

Altogether the quality of potatoes is not 100% consistent this season. On the upside, the levels of starch (taste) are high, although there is some risk that an uneven spread of starch can result in less firm fries. Overall the weather conditions have led to a higher percentage of rejected potatoes due to Aviko's stringent quality controls, however, it must be said that they look great, with the large tubers giving much longer fries!