Heatwaves cause potato losses for growers

Heatwaves and prolonged warm weather have caused substantial losses for potato growers, with farmers fearing plants could die if the heat continues.

Philip Pryor, who grows about 1,000 acres of potatoes across Cornwall, said: "These later crops will not yield anything like they should do."

Chris Dustow, who runs a 400 acre family farm near Lostwithiel, Cornwall, said the potato plants shut down when temperatures rise above 23C (73F). He said "plants will literally die" in the warm weather, "so they're currently sitting out in the fields doing nothing, other than getting stressed".

He predicted three to five tonnes of failed crops per acre from his April to May plants.

Dustow said: "What's going to make a huge difference will be what happens this week, if we've got another bout of extreme dry [weather], we're going to have a pretty serious situation on our hands."

He said the hot weather meant "we are losing valuable growing time, the tuber bulking stage and we'll be losing a big percentage of crop potential".

Pryor said: "Crops are struggling at the moment, it's a big problem.

"Crops are senescencing [dying] quickly and they're not going to make their full potential and the weather is accelerating that process.

"There will be quite a yield penalty, could be 30 to 40%, may even be higher.

"It's challenging because we have got commitments to customers and we don't want to let anyone down, we've just got to manage our way through that."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.