The mood could be described as somewhat upbeat at the recent potato conference organised by Teagasc and the IFA. While better prices help in this regard, the fact that things are being done for the sector and that the consumption decline appears to be reversing also help considerably.

Improved consumer confidence has led to a bit more indulgence among shoppers and this is leading to a battle between the multiple food retailers.

Potatoes have long been an integral part of this battleground, as it is a well-proven fact that shopping baskets that contain potatoes also contain many more products and a bigger general spend.

This was among the many messages delivered by Cliona Lynch of Kantar Worldpanel, when she said that potatoes are purchased every two seconds in Irish retail stores by 1.65 million households every year.

Potatoes are the eighth most-important category for the retailer and they still account for 84% of main carbohydrates sold. Potatoes experienced growth in volume and value terms in 2015 and the volume purchased per household has been rising slightly for the past two years.

This is good news for a food product that has been damned by declining market volume for many years. Indeed, in one of the opening addresses, Teagasc director Prof Gerry Boyle said that ware potato consumption had fallen by 50% in the past decade.

Cliona said that the trend in recent years has been towards a reduction in the sales on small packs and an increase in the sale of bigger pack sizes from 5kg upwards.

Kantar analysis indicates that consumption is increasing in the pre-family, middle-family and 45-plus-family categories, as well as with older dependents, but other household categories are either flat or falling.

The healthy spud

Is there any good reason why potato consumption should have fallen like it did? “No” is the simple answer given by dietitian Aoife Hearne of Operation Transformation fame.

Aoife has been heavily involved in sport all her personal and professional life, having been a very successful athlete.

She stated that potatoes are a very healthy and nutritious food and one of the very few providers of unprocessed carbohydrate. She suggested that it suffered due to the backlash towards carbohydrates and their relationship to obesity, etc.

However, she stated that the body needs carbohydrates to function and it cannot be healthy without them. Carbohydrates need to be between 45% and 65% of the total calories consumed.

Potatoes are also a very good fuel for intense sport activity, Aoife stated. Of course, like all carbohydrates, they can contribute to obesity, but that is much more a matter for the individual than the food. The body still needs carbohydrates. They are essential for high intensity exercise and also very important for brain function.

A very small proportion of people successfully lose weight through dieting – a healthy body is much more related to the balance of food intake and exercise. Aoife described health as a consequence of diet (with a plant slant), exercise, moderate alcohol consumption and no smoking.

She referred to the need for a balanced intake of protein, with carbohydrate as a very useful way to supply energy while keeping down the glycemic index associated with some foods.

Basically, all foods are good in moderation. The challenge we all have is to eat in moderation and Aoife suggested that we should stop eating when we feel about 80% full.

Aoife described the potato as:

It is regarded as being good for gut health and especially irritable bowel syndrome.

Promotion campaign

Following many years of gestation, a promotion programme to encourage potato consumption was introduced last autumn. The campaign is being done in conjunction with the UK and is funded by growers and industry in conjunction with direct EU support.

Speaking at the conference, Chris Linsell from the promotion company Kindred explained the basis for the campaign to change the perception that the potato is more than a bit on the side.

He said that the objective was to re-engage emotional attachment among consumers to the potato through a tuber character called Bud. It also aims to challenge the misconceptions that potatoes are in some way unhealthy, while also showing their versatility as a foodstuff.

The campaign in Ireland has a total annual budget of €1m to be spent evenly over its three-year life span.

So far, the campaign has established Bud and set him up in video format. It has also produced a myriad of recipes showing different ways to use potatoes.

Using this information has helped to generate significant exposure in the Irish magazine sector focused at women. It has also developed a significant online and social media presence.

The expectations set for the three-year campaign include:

The performance of the campaign is to be independently monitored.

Lorcan Bourke of Bord Bia described the new promotion campaign as “a new chapter for the potato. It can help consumers realise that potatoes are cool and fun and that they can bring many different dietary experiences. It is time for everyone to begin to shout about their potato and the fact it is a healthy fat- and gluten-free food.”

While the campaign has definite objectives, Lorcan said that it is the responsibility of everyone in the industry to help spread the word and to encourage increased use of the humble spud.

Information on the campaign can be found on www.potato.ie and all in the sector are urged to play their part in helping to drive awareness. All players are encouraged to use the campaign artwork on lorry sides, stationary, putting stickers on prepacks and using digital artwork.

Salad potato possibilities

With the almost continuous fall in the ware potato market, the industry is looking for other areas of demand. Salad potatoes is just one of the areas where there is a solid and perhaps growing demand that is mainly supplied from imported sources.

The market is estimated at between 20,000t and 25,000t per annum and Irish growers only supply 15% to 20% of this requirement, according to Michael Hennessy of Teagasc.

Last year, Teagasc held a number of information meetings on this topic and a demonstration site was put in place in Wexford with the help of John Stafford and Ed Tobin. Stuart Wale from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) was brought in to help address the deficits in local knowledge.

Michael said that the project aims to grow the market opportunities for home-produced salad potatoes. While the total market size remains uncertain, it provides considerable opportunity for suppliers.

Salad potatoes target a different market segment to ware and have a higher value. But they require very precise husbandry and also represent considerable risk, as there is no food alternative for crops that do not meet the quality requirements.

Salad potatoes are sown later and harvested earlier, but they use the same equipment as ware (except for some modifications). But in terms of agronomic concerns, irrigation is seen as an absolute necessity.

In 2015, the test crops were burned off seven to eight weeks after crop emergence, which gives them a short growing season with the likelihood of no or minimal soil damage. This could make land rental easier within a normal tillage rotation.

The test plots in 2015 looked at three varieties, which showed that different ones had different growth characteristic. Varieties like Jazzy, Charlotte and Jester differed considerably in terms of the number of stems they produced and Jester produced much more tubers per hectare.

However, this was not reflected in total yield and this variety produced a lot of tubers that were out of spec for the market.

It is still early days for this project, but the potential economics make it worthwhile. But success depends on having both high yield and high price.

Michael suggested that production costs will be higher as a result of higher seed cost and the need for irrigation. A basic cost and return estimate is shown in Table 1.

However, when either yield or price are lower, gross margin will suffer considerably.

Michael said that this exploration work, which is supported by Teagasc, the IFA and Bord Bia, will continue in 2016. The plan is to have test plots on four farms plus demonstration plots at Oak Park.

Viruses will hit yield

Viruses can attack all living things and many of them can cause yield loss in potatoes. At the conference, Teagasc’s Fiona Hutton said that virus diseases are of significant importance in potatoes and in particular for seed production.

One of the characteristics is that virus infection persists within the tuber stock and can multiply over successive generations of seed.

Because of this, virus thresholds are set for seed potato production and in Ireland these are monitored and controlled by the Department of Agriculture (DAFM).

Fiona’s presentation looked at the numbers collated by the DAFM during 2006-2012 to show what viruses were present and where they were found around Ireland.

Summarising the results, Fiona reported that PVY was the most common virus and it was found in 11% of the samples tested. The next most common was PVX at 5.4%, followed by PVA at 2.5%. PVS and PLRV were both under 1% infection.

Looking at where the different viruses occurred, Fiona found considerable variation between regions, varieties, years and seed classes.

PVX, which is mechanically spread, was highest in the north of the country, while the aphid-spread PVY was highest in the northeast. And PVA incidence was highest in the southwest and west. There was very little PVS found. There was very little leaf roll virus found.

With regard to individual varieties, the highest incidence of PVX was found in Rooster and Kerr’s Pink, while Lady Claire had the highest incidence of PVY and the PVA positives were virtually all in Golden Wonder.

Not surprisingly, virus incidence was found to be higher in later-generation seed, which highlights the benefit of using early generation seed with low virus infection.

Yield creation

Marc Allison from NIAB Cambridge University Farms gave a presentation on understanding yield limitations in potatoes.

He said that yield is proportionate to intercepted radiation, which is proportional to ground cover. While this relationship is well proven, other factors can also have an impact.

Our solar radiation tends to be highest from the last week in May to early July, with a peak on the longest day. This sets the objective of having full ground cover in crops prior to this.

While later planting may not establish full ground cover until after that date, the impact on yield is not exactly proportional to radiation level, but it will be lower. So emergence date is a significant factor in yield potential.

Marc indicated that, on average, yield will be reduced by about 0.25t/ha for every day that emergence is delayed after mid-April. This is because of the importance of canopy development in yield creation.

Given the impact of rain and soil wetness in our climate, Marc indicated that shallower destoning can help yields. Working less deep enables faster work rates, which allows growers to wait for conditions to be better before commencing planting.

This is because compaction down in the seedbed during destoning is detrimental to yield. However, it remains important to get crop establishment as early as is practically possible.

Nitrogen (N) is used to drive canopy growth. Excess N is often used in an effort to compensate for later emergence.

However, Marc said that this “insurance nitrogen” is actually acting to depress saleable yield and that nitrogen rate needs to be balanced with seed rate.