Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Potato planting boost in north-west Europe

The open day takes place on Tuesday July 18
The open day takes place on Tuesday July 18

The first estimate of acreage planted to potatoes in the North-Western European Potato Growers (NEPG) region is projected to have reached a 10-year high.

Excluding plantings of potatoes for starch or seed, the total planned area is about 1.41million acres.

The season estimates revealed that all five countries in the group (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK) will plant more potatoes in the upcoming season than they did last year, with the biggest increase expected in Belgium.

“Although these estimates suggest a substantial increase in planted area this does not guarantee 10-year high output,” said AHDB analyst Amber Cottingham.

“There is still much of the season to come and yields vary, driven mainly by weather, a factor that is difficult to predict.”

However, she said AHDB Potatoes’ production modelling, based on planted area and various yield scenarios, forecast a year-on-year production increase of between 3% and 21%.

Most NEPG countries, she added, have indicated that stocks are low, especially for free-buy potatoes.

“With processing levels currently high and around three months still to go before the first early processing varieties would typically be available, this could keep prices firm,” she said.

In Britain, with about 70,000ha (173,000 acres) planted to April 22, the current estimate is up by around 37,000ha (91,500 acres) on the same week in 2016 and about 5,000ha (12,300 acres) up on the same point in 2015.