Potato Area September 29, 2015 12:00 am AHDB Potatoes has released revised estimates for 2015 plantings. The area is now put at 111,600 hectares compared to the earlier provisional estimate of 113,100 Ha. The new figure is almost 8% lower than the area planted in 2014. At the same time statistics on plantings by variety have been published. These show that Maris Piper remains the most popular type of potato, covering an area almost three times greater than the next most-popular variety (Markies). However, Maris Piper is far from dominant – it comprises just 15% of total plantings and 50 different varieties account for 84% of the GB area. Only one variety, Melody, has broken into the top five in the last five years.
