Growers suffer €20m losses due to cold snap

POTATO and other vegetable growers countrywide have suffered losses of around €20 million due to the damage caused to crops in last month’s severe frost.

The Irish Farmers Association estimates that some 6,000 acres of damaged crops have been written off because they can’t be harvested.

Growers in the east of the country have been particularly badly hit, but those in the south have also suffered greatly from the harsh cold weather with entire crops being wiped out in many cases.

An early knock-on affect is also being seen in some shops and supermarkets, with a significant apparent rise in potato prices being reported over the past two weeks.

In Co Cork alone, some 750 acres of potatoes belonging to over 30 growers have been lost or damaged in the frost. This represents a €2.3m loss on their investments.

Vegetable growers in the county have also suffered significant losses as a result of the coldest January weather for years.

Andy Whelton, horticultural adviser with Teagasc in Cork, said the impact of the frost on potato and vegetable crops in the county was devastating. Some ornamental nursery stock crops have also been damaged.

The worst affected vegetable crops are various types of cabbage, winter cauliflower and carrots with a 30% to a 100 % wipe out in some cases.

Acres of potatoes and vegetables remain un-harvested with very little of it being salvageable in the majority of cases, he said.

T J Sheehan, Mallow Road, Castletownroche, a specialist producer of winter storage cabbage, said 24 acres of white and red cabbage crops which cost him €65,000 to grow was completely wiped out.

It was the first time in 20 years that he couldn’t harvest the crops. Frost would often have caused damage to the crops, but never before were they wiped out.

“Even after all of the earlier rain, we would have been able to harvest the crops, but then the frost came and that did all the damage,” he said.

Mr Sheehan said he had six full-time and two part-time employees before Christmas. But he had to let the two part-time workers and two of his full-time employees go because he now has no work for them.

Meanwhile, the IFA has welcomed a Government financial aid scheme for growers who have suffered serious crop losses due to the weather but it is seeking further information about the precise details.

John Bryan, president, said while full details of the scheme, announced this week by Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith, are not yet available, growers who have suffered substantial losses will need worthwhile aid to help them get back on their feet. He urged growers who have suffered crop losses to prepare the data needed for the crop damage assessment form, and submit it to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food ahead of the February 16 deadline.