Wielka Brytania: Powierzchnia upraw ziemniaków spadła o około 60% od 1961 r., import dostarcza 29% zapotrzebowania
Kluczowe dania na wynos
- 1961 area was about 303,000 ha, now about 118,000 ha
- 2025 production rose 8.5% to 5.55 million tonnes (Defra)
- 18% fall in ware potato price to GBP 262 per tonne in 2025
- 71% of UK supply came from home production in 2025
Dlaczego jest to ważne
- Dla rolników
- Najpierw należy zaplanować wydajność nawadniania: ministerstwo informuje, że w 2025 r. wyniesie ona ponad 80 t/ha z wodą i około 30 t/ha bez niej.
- Dla procesorów
- Przyjrzyjmy się wskaźnikowi samowystarczalności Wielkiej Brytanii: w 2025 r. wyniesie on 71%, co oznacza, że rynek nadal będzie potrzebował około 2.2 mln ton ekwiwalentu surowca w postaci przetworzonego importu.
- Dla handlowców
- Ostrożnie podchodź do kontraktów cenowych na 2026 r.: ceny towarów w Wielkiej Brytanii spadły o 18% w 2025 r. po rekordowym 2024 r., podczas gdy wolumen wzrósł o 8.5%.
- Dla dostawców
- Target seed growers: seed prices rose to GBP 490 per tonne in 2025 and the UK stays a net seed exporter.
Podsumowanie 60-sekundowe
British potato production has become a high-yield, low-area business. Our calculation from FAOSTAT figures shows that land under the crop shrank from roughly 303,000 hectares in 1961 to about 118,000 hectares in 2024, while output per hectare more than doubled. Official figures from the environment ministry for 2025 point to a partial rebound: 127,000 hectares sown and a harvest of 5.55 million tonnes. At the same time growers earned less per tonne, because ware prices dropped by 18 percent after the unusually strong 2024 season, while seed prices kept climbing to 490 pounds per tonne. The national balance still relies on processed imports equal to about 2.2 million tonnes of raw product, mainly frozen goods from continental Europe. This matters for seed sellers, processors and exporters in the Netherlands and Belgium. The main caveat: FAO and ministry totals for 2024 differ, so long-run and recent numbers come from separate datasets.
The United Kingdom now grows potatoes on a much smaller area than in the past. In 1961 production was 6.81 million tonnes at a yield of 22.5 tonnes per hectare, according to FAOSTAT data published by Our World in Data. This implies an area of about 303,000 hectares. In 2024 the same data show 5.52 million tonnes at 46.6 tonnes per hectare, or about 118,000 hectares.
So the area fell by roughly 60%, while the yield more than doubled. National output peaked at 7.81 million tonnes in 1992. Since 2015 it has stayed around 5.5 million tonnes.
The 2025 season
The environment ministry Defra published its annual report Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2025 in July 2026. According to the report, the area sown rose to 127,000 hectares in 2025. This compares with 118,000 hectares in 2024 and 115,000 hectares in 2023.
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Harvested production rose by 8.5% to 5.55 million tonnes. The average yield was 48 tonnes per hectare. Potatoes for human consumption reached 4.52 million tonnes. Seed potatoes accounted for 561,000 tonnes.
Prices moved in different directions. The average price for early and maincrop potatoes fell 18% to £262 per tonne. The ministry linked this to very high prices in 2024. The seed price rose to £490 per tonne, from £444 a year earlier. The total value of production fell 5.4% to £1,463 million.
Trade and self-sufficiency
The United Kingdom remains a large net importer. Imports were 2.50 million tonnes in 2025 and exports were 430,000 tonnes. Most of the net trade is processed products. Net imports of processed potatoes equalled 2.21 million tonnes of raw potatoes.
Domestic production covered 71% of total new supply in 2025. The share was 67% in both 2023 and 2024. For seed, the country is a net exporter of about 94,000 tonnes.
Water is the main operational risk. The ministry said irrigation was the principal challenge in 2025. Some crops needed water every three days. Irrigated crops yielded more than 80 tonnes per hectare, while crops without irrigation gave about 30 tonnes.
Dlaczego jest to ważne
The British crop is now grown by fewer, more specialised farms on less land. Yield gains have kept the total volume stable. But the country still depends on imports of frozen and other processed products for almost a third of its supply.
For seed exporters, the United Kingdom stays a net seller. For processors and traders in continental Europe, it stays one of the main outlets for frozen products.
Photo: Maris Piper potatoes near Montrose, Scotland (illustrative). Adrian Diack / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Co dalej
Defra will publish 2026 figures in its next annual report in mid-2027. Until then, the irrigation gap between watered and dry fields is the main yield factor to watch.
Źródła
- Our World in Data / FAOSTAT — Potato production (tonnes) — https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/potato-production
- Our World in Data / FAOSTAT — Potato yields (t/ha) — https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/potato-yields
- Defra — Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2025, Chapter 7: Crops (tables 7.10a–c) — https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/agriculture-in-the-united-kingdom-2025/chapter-7-crops
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