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World Potato Congress to discuss challenges for sector as Irish sales take post-Covid dip

Potato sales surged during the first two years of the pandemic as people ate most of their meals at home.

THE WORLD POTATO Congress, which is being held in Ireland this year, will hear that the sector needs to better promote itself, particularly among younger age groups, as sales have dipped after a surge during Covid lockdowns.

Ross Keogh, director of Keogh’s Farm – which many readers will know for their crisps – will delver a presentation to up to 1,000 delegates at the congress on Tuesday, focusing on what lies ahead for the potato and what the sector needs to do to ensure that its future is secure.

“Sales are down in the fresh potato sector, that needs to be looked at and addressed,” Keogh told The Journal.

“A lot of it is connected to coming out of the Covid restrictions and lockdowns, people are not shopping in the same way.

“During Covid we sold a lot of potatoes, people were at home cooking all of their family meals, now people are out and about more, they don’t want to be in the house cooking as much.

“People who are working at home all day also don’t always want to spend their evenings at home cooking.”

He said sales have returned to 2019 levels, but many in the sector had expanded their operations to meet the increased demand during Covid and had planted their crop based on the 2021 market.

Keogh said everyone in the chain, from the farmers to the packers to the retailers selling the potatoes have extra costs, but the price of potatoes has not gone up in line with inflation.

Brexit has also caused a challenge as farmers can no longer get their supply of seed potatoes – potatoes grown specifically to be planted to grow crops – from Scotland.

“The government is providing funding to growers to look into growing the seed that we’re short of,” Keogh said.

“We’ve had to do that already, but growing seed potatoes requires a little bit more expertise and it needs to be done in certain areas of the country – up in Donegal, for example, there are similar conditions to Scotland.”

What the industry needs, Keogh will tell the congress on Tuesday, is to better promote itself, particularly among younger age groups.

“It’s the number now carbohydrate and we take it for granted,” he said.

“There is a potato promotion that’s now in it’s third year, Bord Bia is fronting that with EU finding and that’s been aimed at people aged 18-34. From data in recent years, compared to older generations they’re not cooking potatoes as much.

“We need to get it out there that the potato is 0% fat, full of nutrition, it’s healthy, it’s good value and it’s versatile. We need to turn that on its head and get them to fall in love with the potato.”

The 11th World Potato Congress will take place from 30 May to 2 June at the RDS in Dublin. The event will feature more than 60 speakers and is set to be attended by up to one thousand delegates from over 60 countries.

Speakers will discuss a broad range of topics, including the impact of the war in Ukraine on the global potato industry, consumer trends in global markets and the role of research in food security and sustainability.

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    Mute David Van-Standen
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    May 28th 2022, 8:35 AM

    Give it another six months and if the price of everything keeps increasing as it has in the last six months, people might be living on spuds!

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    Mute James Fox
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    May 28th 2022, 11:31 AM

    @David Van-Standen: spuds ain’t cheap to buy either

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    Mute Aurelio Na Fodhla
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    May 28th 2022, 11:56 AM

    @James Fox: cheap to grow. I’ve about 80 plants growing

    29
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    Mute
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    May 28th 2022, 10:20 AM

    How come chippies are complaining about the price of potatoes and their suppliers are blaming it on the war saying a lot of potatoes they use are imported. Example My local chippie has t2 stores he gets a HGV load of potatoes once/twice a week he’s getting them potatoes in from UK and parts of Eastern Europe inc Ukraine pre war. This country should be self sufficient in veg.

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    Mute Paul Guckian
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    May 28th 2022, 10:04 AM

    How come we cannot buy any frozen chips that are made in Ireland? Not only should be able to, it should be a major export commodity as well.

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    Mute Finola Thorn
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    May 28th 2022, 11:22 AM

    Bring back (in supermarkets) the option to pick your own spuds. I personally never get through even a small bag before they go off. Being able to pick the amount you need for one meal would be helpful and I’m sure more people like me, would be more inclined to buy.

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    Mute OConnelj
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    May 28th 2022, 11:37 AM

    @Finola Thorn: I bought 2 potatoes yesterday!

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    Mute OConnelj
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    May 28th 2022, 11:38 AM

    @OConnelj: in a supermarket.

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    Mute Jason Walsh
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    May 28th 2022, 12:02 PM

    @OConnelj: wrapped in plastic no doubt

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    Mute Eddie O'Neill
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    May 28th 2022, 1:26 PM

    @Finola Thorn: I would completely agree on that, same for other fruit and vegetables. They don’t care if you have to throw out produce gone bad, they sell you a bigger bag than you need because they can charge you more for it. That’s all they are interested in, your money and getting it from your pocket into their till. The days of Superquinn are long gone now.

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    Mute OConnelj
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    May 28th 2022, 5:12 PM

    @Jason Walsh: nope loose.

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    Mute Kate Peters
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    May 28th 2022, 5:47 PM

    @Finola Thorn: I live on my own,and I go to the veg man,he has a stall,and has every kind of fruit veg and potatoes,I’d say can I get 4 r 6 potatoes,it’s no problem,he has veg u get in the supermarket,and he has the carrots,onions with the stalks still on them,they have only been picked,or often in Butchers they would have a paper bag of potatoes,and u can fill your own,I hope u find someplace near u

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    Mute Vonvonic
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    May 28th 2022, 8:44 AM

    A Polish friend of mine was asking me wan time which were better, Polish Potatoes or Irish Potatoes? I said to him: That dipinds on whether you are ating dem yurselves, or fading dem to de cattle.

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    Mute Lien Lynch
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    May 28th 2022, 8:36 AM

    Sounds like he has a bit of a chip about it

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    Mute Niall O'Reilly
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    May 28th 2022, 3:09 PM

    Potatoes are so flexible. I love them as boxty. New potatoes are delicious just add butter and a pinch of salt. Roasted or boiled in their jackets or mashed with milk, scallions, butter and chives. Or served baked in cream. Or as pommes Anna. Or pommes dauphinois! Or Créme fraiche potatoes. The list is endless!! Gan féasta gan prátaí!

    16
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