Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Potato plantings back 7.8% on 2014

Total potato acreage is down 10%
Total potato acreage is down 10%

Potato growers are growing less than originally thought this year, according to figures from AHDB Potatoes.

The levy body has issued an updated estimate of total potato plantings in Britain this year, with acreage down less than first thought.

The latest estimate suggests plantings are down 7.8% on last year to 275,796 acres.

This is down slightly on the first estimate issued in July, which suggested plantings were only back 6.6% on 2014 when 299,244 acres was planted.

Scottish plantings account for around 20% of GB plantings this year at 57,595 acres.

AHDB Potatoes has also released information on the varieties planted by tattie growers across the country.

According to the levy body, Maris Piper remains the most popular variety, accounting for 15% of the total GB planted area.

Across Britain, the top five varieties are: Maris Piper, Markies, Maris Peer, Lady Rosetta and Melody.

While in Scotland the top five are: Maris Piper, Rooster, Hermes, Maris Peer and Cultra.

The figures suggest the planted area for the five varieties is 10,588 acres, 4,652 acres, 4,242 acres, 3,069 acres and 2,824 acres respectively.

Earlier this year members of the Scottish potato sector gathered in Edinburgh for a crisis meeting to discuss the future of the sector.

Those attending the meeting were hoping to find a solution to the sector’s problems of too much produce for a market with falling consumption.

No quick fix was found, however growers were urged to cut back production by around 10% to prevent another glut in the market following this year’s harvest.