By Anna Burdett Farming and rural affairs editor

Last updated at 15:23, Friday, 12 October 2012

Cumbria's weather-hit potato harvest could be 30 per cent down leading to shortages and imports being brought in.

Difficulties in store: Brian Harrison, from Beck Farm, Abbeytown, is seeing lower yields and cannot get to some of his land to harvest potatoes due to the wet weather

Wet weather has hit yields and stopped farmers getting onto fields to harvest, pushing the wholesale price for locally grown potatoes to £280 per tonne, up from £160 per tonne last year.

Brian Harrison of Beck Farm, near Abbeytown, raced against the midweek rain to get some of his 12 acres of potatoes out of the ground. Twenty per cent of the farm’s income comes from the 280 tonnes of Saxon, Estima and Caberet potatoes he would normally expect to yield. He said: “Our crop will be down by almost a third and it’s the same for most potato crops. A lot of plants have not germinated and died because of the wet conditions.

“There is not the same population of potatoes to the plant because of the lack of sunshine and I won’t be able to get to about two acres at all because the ground is so wet.”

This is delaying winter barley drilling, he added.

Consumers will quickly notice a difference in price because of tightened supplies and increased costs.

At greengrocer Bill Lightfoot’s shop in Wigton, four-stone bags of local potatoes have doubled in price since last year to more than £8.

He said: “We’re selling a few more than normal because there is no back garden crop this year. People are noticing the price increase.

“We’ve got good suppliers but it is after the turn of the year that shortages will be felt because many producers aren’t risking storing potatoes because they are wet.

“It’ll be down to imports then.”

At Mr Harrison’s, even when the sun shines, the harvest is four times slower because of the wet ground. This means higher fuel costs and longer hours of pay for staff. “I’ve not experienced a potato harvest like this before,” said Mr Harrison.

“They have been sitting wet that long, there’s a big question over how they will store.”

Penrith wholesaler Ian James is already bringing supplies from as far as Lincolnshire when normally, Cumbria and Lancashire would satisfy his needs.

Best quality chipping potatoes are up to £450 per tonne, up from £320 last year.

“We’re hoping that if the weather gets better, things will settle down,” said Mr James who is based on the Eden Business Park.

“We supply a lot of pubs and restaurants and we’re not passing all the price increase on. Most local farmers would normally have their potatoes out of the ground by now.

“We’re just hoping the tatties come out in reasonably good condition so they will store.”

First published at 13:54, Friday, 12 October 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk