Potato Plantings August 2, 2016 12:00 am AHDB has released its first estimates of total potato plantings for the 2016 crop. These show the GB area has increased by 4% to 116,000ha compared to 2015. This is the largest year on year change, even so this is still the second-lowest planted area on record. For production to equal that of 2015 the average yield would need to be 46.8t/ha this is obviously feasible, indeed last year it was 48.8t/ha. If the five year average yield (excluding 2012 which was exceptionally poor) of 47.3t/ha is achieved then production will be 1% higher than last year. Furthermore the latest estimates for the five North-West European Potato Growers countries (NEPG), which includes GB, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany shows the 2016 area is the highest since NEPG records began. The area for just ware potatoes is estimated to be 553,000ha, nearly 5% more than in 2015. Belgium has seen the biggest year-on-year increase up by 12.4% (almost 10,000ha).
