JERSEY Royals could be on Islanders’ plates slightly earlier than usual this year – as long as the weather stays mild.
The majority of Royals are planted in January and February as the Island looks to take advantage of its southerly location to provide early-season produce for the UK market.
Following some difficulties due to damp and cold conditions last year, Jersey Farmers’ Union president Peter Le Maistre said this year had gone well so far.
‘We had a very good planting season in January and February – the weather has been very kind to us,’ he said.
‘The winter has been very mild and dry, so we’ve had very good conditions and growers have been able to plant potatoes as much as they wanted to.
‘Some of them at L’Étacq are already growing and that is very early in the year for that,’ he added.
Mr Le Maistre said that the next few weeks would determine when Jersey Royals can start to be picked.
‘If the weather is good we could see them in supermarkets by the first week of April, which is probably a week earlier than usual,’ he said.
The farming industry has been rocked by soaring fertiliser costs caused by the spike in natural-gas prices last year.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has also generated fears that costs could go up further, with both countries large exporters of fertiliser.
Mr Le Maistre said, however, that the industry would not be affected by this and rising fuel costs were a greater concern.
He said: ‘We buy all our fertiliser in October, so we are supplied for the next year. But when we bought it last year the cost had gone up 100%.
‘This was because the CF Industries plant closed down in the UK and because the price of natural gas went up so much.
‘What has affected us more is that the price of oil has gone up from around $70 to $113.’
He said that the impact of the Ukraine crisis was not known yet but some Polish staff had shown concern for the situation close to their homeland.
‘We know that Ukraine is a major supplier of cereals and potatoes to the rest of the world,’ he said.
‘I would expect that their planting season there would be April, so that could be affected by what is going on there.
‘A lot of the Polish staff we employ are from the south-east of the country, which is next to the Ukraine border. So they are wary of the situation at the moment.’
