There is a shortfall of nearly 20,000 tonnes of Irish eating potatoes available to consumers for the rest of the season, it was learned yesterday. However, growers said consumers should not have to pay more for potatoes, because the retailers have a large enough margin to absorb any higher costs paid to growers.
A meeting of growers in Navan, Co Meath, earlier this week was told there are only 70,000 tonnes of Irish potatoes left for the remainder of the season.
The IFA potato chairman, Mr John Sheridan, said: "This reduction is due to a combination of static planting and reduced yields caused in the main by incessant rain over much of the planting, growing and harvesting periods.
"While lower than normal stocks have translated into improved prices for growers this season, costs have increased considerably due to lower output and additional growing and handling costs.
"Based on these stock estimates, growers should now have the confidence to seek a fair return from the marketplace that takes account of the additional cost associated with growing the crop this season," Mr. Sheridan said.
Growers were also told of the importance of keeping the market supplied during the coming months until the early crop.
The IFA potato marketing co-ordinator, Mr Malachy Mitchell, told the meeting that imports were up significantly this season, particularly in the peeling sector which supplies the catering trade.
This was due to the large price gap between here and most of Europe. However, some peelers were passing off cheap imported "yellow fleshed" varieties as traditional Irish Roosters to the catering sector.
He said this was destroying the integrity of a major native variety and must be addressed by the Department of Agriculture through proper variety and country-of-origin labelling.
Growers were also told of the importance of planning and growing their crop in accordance with market needs. Mr Mitchell said recent seasons had brought home the fact that a 10 per cent increase in output can cause a twice as large decrease in net returns.
Irish people consume 400,000 tonnes of potatoes annually, 95 per cent of which are home produced and the rest imported.