Consumption of potatoes is dropping among young people, with the market contracting partially on the back of increased competition from rice and pasta, Michael Hoey of Country Crest has said.
Speaking at Tillage Day 2026 in the Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge on Thursday, he likened the situation to a conveyor belt.
“I know Bord Bia won’t agree with me on this, but definitely consumption is dropping. Young people are not eating the quantity of potatoes that we did.
“We’re all on the conveyor belt, and the people that are falling off were eating the larger tonnages. There’s so much competition from rice and pasta, the market is contracting - we are going to see that happening,” he said.
He said it was a difficult potato-growing year.
“We had a late spring, with crops going in later than they should have been. We had fantastic growing conditions, tuber initiation threw big numbers then we hit drought and crops started struggling from then on.
“I thought we were going to have a disastrous year. But crops kept going. We got rain in mid-August and potatoes took off again through early September and bulked up quite well. Where we thought we’d have huge deficits in tonnages, it looks like we’re going to be ok,” he said.
Ireland’s potato area is expected to fall by around 650ha this year.
Cereal prices
On cereals, Hoey said he is always looking at cereal prices and how tight margins are.
“Every one of us waits to see what the co-ops come out with on price on cereals and it’s never very exciting. I’m growing cereals for 45 years and you can count the good years on one hand.
“We’re really geared towards giving a low-cost input into the livestock sector. The days of growing cereals for €200-220/t are long gone. It’s very hard to be expected to do that. We have to keep looking outside the box to see what can be done,” he said.
Hoey added that Country Crest has just got planning to build an anaerobic digester.
“I think that there’s a way that with the contracts that are out there with Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO), that hopefully will come in around Christmas time, and if that incentive is ok, I think that there’s a way forward that contracts can be done with big consumers of energy.
“If we can get to a situation where a man or lady can get €65 to €70/t for green material for a digester, maybe that’s a better alternative to growing cereals for the livestock industry and it will create competition in the market. It needs something to liven this market up a bit. We’re all price takers, but in this way maybe we can turn the thing a bit.
“The need for energy in this country is only going one way,” he said.
For more on Tillage Day 2026, stay tuned to www.farmersjournal.ie.
