Scottish Agricultural Census: June 2019

Strong prices drive increase in planted potato area

The area used to grow potatoes rose in the past year. The area increased from 27,400 hectares to 28,500 hectares, a rise of four per cent. The increase in area is most likely caused by strong market prices over the past year. Despite the increase the areas of potatoes is currently below the ten-year average.

• Area used to grow potatoes in 2019 28,500 hectares

Scotland has a reputation for growing high quality potatoes, particularly seed potatoes. Scottish seed potatoes are sold all over the world and a register of seed potato producers is kept by Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA)

Both seed (planting) and ware (eating) potatoes increased in area. The area of seed and ware potatoes both increased by approximately four per cent. Seed potatoes increased from 12,100 in 2018 to 12,500 in 2019 and ware potatoes increased from 15,300 to 15,900 in the same period.