France raises potato harvest estimate

It was already known that growers in France are going to realise a record harvest. The reason is that the area has grown by more than 24,000 hectares compared to last year. The combination of high potato prices in the past two years and an increase in capacity at the chip factories has encouraged arable farmers in north-west France in particular to plant more potatoes. The area has been adjusted downwards slightly compared to August (-216 hectares), and now amounts to 178,190 hectares. This means a growth of 16 percent compared to the area of last year. Never before have the French grown so many potatoes. The growth of the potatoes has been slightly better than was estimated a month ago. In the new estimate, Agreste is aiming for a hectare yield of 42.6 tonnes. A month ago, the organisation was still counting on 42.3 tonnes per hectare. Starch potatoes The starch potatoes are also growing better than was expected in August. ...