06/03/2013 00:00
TW
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Palma.—The high expectations of a bumper early winter export crop of Sa Pobla potatoes has been dashed by the recent cold snap, as feared.
Yesterday, the president of the s'Esplet cooperative, Josep Llabres, said that potato farmers are now concentrating on saving the next crop while those who can, are trying to m ake the most of what is left of the early crop which was destined to its prime market in the United Kingdom and other Northern European countries.

One farmer said yesterday that the cold snap has wiped out about six percent of his export crop, although many producers did admit that the damage caused by the freeze could have been worse.

Temperatures fell to as low as -4ºC and that has damaged those plants which were due to be harvested over the next few weeks.
So now, attention is focused on the next crop to be harvested at the end of April. “Providing it does not rain too much and the weather improves, we will certainly be able to salvage the next crop,” Llabres said.
All of the potato farms in the s'Esplet area have been affected and now growers are trying to calculate exactly how much damage was caused by the freak freeze week.

In the meantime, it means that British consumers are going to have to pay slightly more for their Majorcan potatoes until the next harvest at the end of next month.