No more cheap potatoes?

SpudMan

1. YES very much so. Organic main crop will be prodominantly be Lady Balfour, Triplo or Valour. Salad varieties would mostly be Nicola and Bambino

2. YES very much so lol. As you would expect of something organic growers are not alloowed to spray it with anything at all (apart from 6kg's of natural copper per growing season to help manage blight) Organic potatoes suffer from all manner of pests, scab, tuber blight, stem end rots, the list goes on. Growers literally plant them in a field, water thyem all season, then harvest them. Whetever happens to them in between is completely out of anyone's control.

Just on the carb side you do know that the starch found in a potato is amylose based and as such very different from those found in bread, rice pasta etc? I'm guessing to switch to an organic diet you looked into this kind of stuff beforehand in detail and fair play to you.


Just realised I didn't answer the question above about what may be best to grow at home. To be honest how you grow it would be far more important than what you grow but I would stick to a first early at home. Something like Rocket or Javelin would be ideal.

SpudMan

geordie_joe wrote: »

Senior, honest?

I'd so love to give this the answer it deserves

geordie_joe

SpudMan wrote: »

Just another thing to throw in as I can see from your multi quoted posts you love an argument. Serials. Mark my words serial prices in 2014 will increase dramatically. Keep this in your diary and come back to me next year and tell me if I was right (now there's a bit of information I can't have found on a website )

Cereals, you meant cereals! Of course you could not have found that information on a web site.........Unless you looked at this one

However, more longer term down the road into 2013 possibly into 2014, we’re going to see these higher corn and soybean prices built into packaged, processed, more shelf stable foods," Volpe said.

As an example, cereals and bakery products, the ERS notes, will likely see above average inflation.

http://farmfutures.com/story-retail-food-prices-should-stay-steady-2012-0-62826

Edwardia

Spudman I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2007 and experimented with low GI which didn't work. Went low carb in 2010 and that has been a great success. Can eat some root veg (swede, celeriac) just not spuds or worse still, parsnips. Pasta and rice are bad too. I go by several results on my bkood glucose meter and keep to 50-75g carbs per day. Organic since March 2012 and normal liver function test within weeks.

Have seen Lady Balfour but will have to look out for the others though thanks

Geordie Joe if you're going to quote a farming site why quote an American one ? American agribusiness is hugely different to farming in the UK.

Middy

A._Badger wrote: »

The comments about a poor harvest are quite right.

The interesting question is, if conditions return to normal next year, will the price go back down again?

Or if the weather conditions are so perfect we get a glut of veg, I don't expect shops selling carrots for 40p/kg

chesky

Spudman - a bit of a niche question, whatever happened to Bartlett's Roosters? They seemed to erupt on us about five years ago and I bought them regularly at Sainsburys. They disappeared from there and I could only get them in Waitrose. Then, nothing. Nowhere. Haven't seen them for a couple of years. What happened?

aliama

chesky wrote: »

Spudman - a bit of a niche question, whatever happened to Bartlett's Roosters? They seemed to erupt on us about five years ago and I bought them regularly at Sainsburys. They disappeared from there and I could only get them in Waitrose. Then, nothing. Nowhere. Haven't seen them for a couple of years. What happened?

Sainsburys online does them. £2.45 for 2kg.

cannyscot_2

Yep lidl comes closest £3.69 for 7.5kg -they are not as good as Maris Pipers but ok and make ok roast pots .

A._Badger

aliama wrote: »

Sainsburys online does them. £2.45 for 2kg.

All my local Sainsbury's branches sell them.

A._Badger

SpudMan wrote: »

Just realised I didn't answer the question above about what may be best to grow at home. To be honest how you grow it would be far more important than what you grow but I would stick to a first early at home. Something like Rocket or Javelin would be ideal.

More very interesting contributions SpudMan, thank you.

May I suggest readers ask on the MSE gardening group, or consult a good gardening book, or even a website like http://growingpotatoes.co.uk for advice about growing potatoes at home. SpudMan may be better versed in what works commercially,.

Edit - he's right about first earlies, unless you have a huge plot but there are more interesting varieties.