The crop of Jersey Royals – served in salads or just boiled and garnished with butter — is already two weeks late because of the long winter, which meant planting came later and the early crops were killed by frost.
Now, Jersey has been hit by the worst drought in 34 years. According to potato growers, the first crop may be cut in half because of a lack of rainfall in April. While the rest of the UK was suffering downpours over last weekend's bank holiday, just 2mm fell in Jersey.
Mike Renourd, technical director for the Jersey Royal Company, said today: "It's looking like the first half of the crop will have a significant yield reduction."
Mike Renourd, technical director for the Jersey Royal Company, said today: "It's looking like the first half of the crop will have a significant yield reduction."
He added that supermarket representatives had visited farms in recent days because the crop was potentially so low.
Renourd said the potatoes planted later in the season were growing normally.
