Spud producers face big losses with assets frozen

Eglinton potato farmer Donald Montgomery said he was fortunate to have lifted his potato crop before the freeze set in but many colleagues have not been so fortunate.

"Any crop that's still in the ground now is lost," said Mr Montgomery. "Last year because of the wet spring and whatever we had that you could call a summer it meant a lot of farmers didn't get the potatoes in until June.

"This really set people back and they weren't ready to lift until after the end of September or October. Then with the frost anything in the ground was frozen," he said.

"Over the past ten years we've been lucky enough in that the weather has been good to us but this year it went belly-up."

Mr Montgomery said those potato growers worst affected are set to lose thousands of pounds as a result of the big freeze.

The Eglinton man said some growers have lost up to 20 per cent of their crop and in extremes cases this rises to 80 per cent.

With an average potato plantation comprising 100-150 acres and an investment per acre of roughly 2,000 some farmers are facing potential losses of anywhere between 50,000 and 200,000.

"In a normal year you would be just about covering your costs," said Mr Montgomery. "Those farmers have lost whatever they've put in this year."

DUP deputy mayor, Maurice Devenney said the recent cold weather had been the worst spell that farmers had faced for 30 years and called for extra help to be provided for those who were struggling.

He added: "It could put some farmers to the wall."