Counties Donegal, Galway and Mayo have been issued with a status yellow blight warning.

Met Éireann has said that conditions favourable to the spread of potato blight will continue on Friday and Saturday, with limited opportunities for spraying.

The warning is in place from 11.20am on Friday until 8pm on Saturday.

Market

This week’s IFA potato market report shows that it could be next week before the lifting of early potato varieties such as Home Guard and Premier will begin.

Stocks of good-quality packing material continue to tighten and command a premium price. However, most of this is being offset by storage costs.

On a positive note, the hospitality trade in the UK has seen an uplift since the food service trade reopened.

In the UK, liftings appear to running a week or two behind schedule.