The organisation Zemnieku Saeima (Farmers’ Saeima) notes that the strong storm in late July has affected not only the rapeseed, cereal and pea harvests, but also the potato harvest, with potatoes drowning and rotting on some farms in Zemgale, while Latgale is experiencing a drought. Thus, this year potato yields and quality will be lower, while the price of local potatoes will increase.
Zemnieku Saeima says that the storm’s devastation has hit Zemgale hardest, with almost the entire potato harvest lost in some parts of Dobele. However, there are also fields in Zemgale where there is no excessive moisture and rotting, as potatoes have been planted on sandier and higher ground.
“Unfortunately, potato farming is a game of luck – if it’s a dry summer, the lucky growers are the ones who plant their potatoes in the lowest areas where there is more moisture. But in years when there is a lot of rain, potatoes grow better in fields higher up,” says Juris Lazdiņš, chair of the board of Zemnieku Saeima.
The association also notes that the situation in Vidzeme is relatively stable, as the rainfall was not heavy enough to cause damage. Although the potato leaves are showing signs of rotting in some areas of the region, farmers are hopeful that the overall harvest will be above average and that the harvest will last a long time. However, this can only be seen after one month, when the later-maturing potato varieties are harvested.
According to organisation, the price of potatoes in Riga markets is currently around 0.65-euro cents per kilogram, compared to 0.55 a year ago.
Lazdiņš predicts that the price of potatoes will be even higher in winter. “Farms will have to put in extra work to re-sort potatoes several times and pick out the damaged ones. At the same time, there are additional costs for labour and electricity,” he says.
The organisation also notes that currently potato fields can only be insured for hail damage. To protect potato producers from significant losses in the future, insurers should develop an offer to insure potato fields against rain and drought risks to help alleviate financial losses if some of the crop is damaged by weather.
The Farmers’ Saeima is a farmers’ organisation founded in 1999. It has 800 members from small and large farms all over Latvia. Together they manage more than 500 000 hectares of farmland and employ more than 4 000 people.