'It's a looks market - customers want a blemish-free potato'

Big changes: when Ivan Curran started growing potatoes in the 1970s he had 80-100 pickers working on the harvest; today that work is completely mechanised. Photo: Mark Condren

July 21 2020 02:30 AM

When Ivan Curran started growing potatoes in the late 1970s, he had 80-100 pickers employed to harvest his crops by hand.

Today, the picking of potatoes on his 700 acre farm near Stamullen, Co Meath, is completely mechanised.

"We started the mechanised picking of potatoes in 1988 with a potato harvester and we had about 160 acres of potatoes at the time," Ivan says.

"The fresh market started to change with customers wanting better, cold storage for the fresh market.

"So, we'd store about 1,000 tonnes short-term until February/March, from potatoes that were picked in September or October. Now, with the new stores we put in, we can bulk store, and we'd have 10,000t right through to July."

Ivan's father before him was growing potatoes since the late 1950s and sold 4st bags on the open market.

"When I started in the late '70s, we were growing Records, Kerr Pinks and Golden Wonder, which were all bagged into 4st bags and onto a pallet off the farm, with no washing. Today, while Dennigans wash the potatoes, we are supplying 1t boxes out of the refrigerated stores for the fresh market."

Since 1991 the area of the country under potatoes has fallen from 20,500ha to 8,700ha in 2019. Since 2008 the crop harvest has increased from 344,000t to 382,000t, as grower numbers declined and those left became bigger.

Consistency

The move towards larger farms means buyers can deal with a small number of buyers, not a load of different suppliers, so consistency of product is there, Ivan says. However, he says, you could make a great living out of 20 acres, if you marketed them properly.

"Today, around 70pc of the potatoes on the supermarket shelf are Roosters, while the salad potato market has grown in the last couple of years," Ivan says.

"Roosters are recognisable and red. They are a nice all-around spud. There is a lot of reliance on Roosters, but that is what the people want. They want a visibly nice potato."

Consumers, Ivan says, are moving away from flowery potatoes to more soapy potatoes that don't break up when cooked.

"But it's a looks market: consumers want nice, clean potatoes - a bit of scab on potato would turn customers off. Then it's about salad potatoes that you can just put in a microwave - a quick and easy potato to cook."

To achieve blemish-free potatoes, Ivan has to irrigate his crops, which is a big investment.

"Even though all our crops are outdoors, irrigation is a must and it allows you to get the skin finish right, so no blemishes, which makes growing potatoes far more expensive than 20 years ago," he says.

"Anything with a little blemish is thrown out for cattle feed these days. So, a crop that delivers 16t out of the ground, when it's graded could be down to 12.5t."

'It's a looks market - customers want a blemish-free potato'

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