Essex potato grower Tom Stevenson is yet to plant a single potato at New Hall Farm, making it the latest-ever start to planting he can remember.

Planting would usually begin in the first or second week of April, but endless rain showers have left the ground unsuitable to work at the farm near Great Dunmow.

“Spring so far has been rather challenging,” Mr Stevenson says. “This is our latest-ever start date. We have 150ha of potatoes to plant. We would usually aim to be wrapped up in April but it looks unlikely we will have started by then.”

See also: Variety choice and targeted N are vital for Scottish grower’s potato profit

Mr Stevenson recalls his previous latest start date was in 2016 when the team started on 26 April, after similar wet spring conditions.

With continued unsettled weather forecast, concerns are rising over potential yield losses as the optimum planting window narrows.

“The growing season is getting compressed and later planting will ultimately lead to a yield penalty,” he says. “It would be good to string two or three dry days together to give soils a chance to dry out so we can start planting.”

Even under optimum weather conditions, planting will take up to three weeks, which means if weather conditions improve and soils dry out, a mid-May finish date is on the cards. However, Mr Stevenson notes that “once we start planting into May, we lose growing days and yield”.

© Tom Stevenson

Energy costs triple

Average yields are about 45t/ha on the farm’s heavy land, where King Edward and red skin varieties are grown for the fresh supermarket sector. A proportion of the crop is destined for long-term storage, but this year’s energy costs have tripled on last year’s.

With potential yield losses due to delayed planting and inflation hitting input costs, the potato sector is struck with yet another challenge.

Mr Stevenson says: “Energy has always been a significant cost for us as we expanded our storage facilities to make the most of the incremental price increases when selling out of season. But now it is getting scary. It certainly focuses the mind, which is why we’re looking into more renewable energy projects to help mitigate against this.”

He remains positive that the right weather will come to get the crop planted. Together with reasonable increases in contract prices to reflect inflation, he hopes this season will still be a success.

 “The weather changes faster than you realise, so hopefully it won’t take long for the soils to dry out and we will be planted up,” he says.