b"Drought tolerance of 4n ryegrass vs performing 2n ryegrass varieties. Photo: DLFdrought, according to Gallardo. This is partly due to the increas- increased production costs, European processors have much to ing lack of water supplies. The severe precipitation deficit has hitdeliberate for next season.the energy sector for hydropower generation and cooling systems. Its going to be very tight for the processors in Europe to In general, there are no crops that are less affected. If weget the potatoes they need, and of course, that's going to have had enough water, we could say that irrigation would suffer less,an impact on the global market. The market was obviously very but irrigation has increased production costs due to electricityimpacted by pandemic. In 2020, we saw a big reduction in the and the cost of water itself, and farmers have also seen how thetrade of potatoesparticularly in frozen potato productsbut administration has cut their annual water allocation, he explains. it all began recovering again in 2021 and the first half of 2022, One of those crops greatly impacted were potatoes. explains Porter in an interview with European Seed.Unfortunately, the extreme drought might set the European POTATO MARKET FEELS THE BURN potato trade back once again.During their September 2022 meeting, the North Western PotatoThe value of exports will be a record in 2022. As we go into Growers (NEPG) estimated that global potato production in2023, there will be more pressure on exports, and we will see NEPGs zone (EU-04) is expected to drop by seven to 11 per cent,much higher prices. We're already seeing much higher export varying between 20 and 21 million tons, according to a release.prices, and thats really set to go higher. Whether that will mean In addition to these extreme heats, farmers must also weighthat people will want to buy less because of higher prices, infla-the production effects brought upon by the continued invasiontion and the cost of living, that waits to be seen. But if people of Ukraine and lasting impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.can buy fries at a reasonable price, they will buy them, restoring Free buy and free market potatoes have seen a largethe market, he concludes.increase in price, more than doubling with the potential toDespite all hands-on deck from experts to predict the full go even higher as the season progresses, according to Cedricimpacts of the drought and water shortages, some farmers have Porter, editor of World Potato Markets and member of the Tradebeen left to their own devices to salvage what is left of their crop & Agriculture Commission. from this season. For a smaller organization like NEPG, the best Free buy prices are relatively good. They're a bit aboveway they can aid farmers during this difficult time is to provide production costs, and farmers would like to have even higheraccurate and timely information.free buy prices because their production costs with the war haveWe are a very, very small organization with a budget of gone up very much. All productions costs have gone up, be itbetween 15,000 to 20,000 euros, so we're not a big company. energy, diesel, electricity, machinery. Everything that has toThe only thing we have is information. The only thing we can do with construction and fertilizer, explains Daniel Ryckmans,give to our growers is information. And when they have infor-secretary of NEPG, in an interview with European Seed. As amation, they are stronger. That's the only thing we can do, says result, the contract prices farmers are going to get for the nextRyckmans.season (i.e., 2022-2023) will not cover the new costs.Producers are hoping for good free buy prices in the remain- ARE DROUGHT-TOLERANT TURF VARIETIES der of 2022 and into 2023 to make up for decreased contractENOUGH TO BEAT THE HEAT?prices, which now do not cover the higher costs built up sinceTurf grass fate has been no differentlike many crops, it is the beginning of the war. Yet, the future remains unknown. unable to escape the clutches of the devastating weather. Processors are currently working at full capacity. EveryoneTwo major factors that limit the growth of cool season grass hopes they will continue to do so. But should processors reduceare drought and high temperatures, according to Anne Mette their activity because of lack of gas availability or high prices,Dahl Jensen, product development manager - turfgrass for DLF.they might be buying less free buy potatoes, and at the end ofThe combined effects of drought and heat stress are associ-the day, growers will not be able to sell their potatoes at a goodated with damage to the cell membranes of grass species, which price. Eventually, in the worst-case scenario, they would be leftcan reduce the leaf water content leading to a severe decline with some potatoes, adds Ryckmans. in turf quality, she explains. In some places, the entire turf can die.THE FUTURE OF POTATOES That is why the work done to develop drought resistant Experts are confident that late rains will not save the cropsvarieties is so crucial, as the climate remains unpredictable. Two from the harmful impacts of the aggressive drought. Paired withsolutions that DLF offers for drought tolerance are fescue species 30IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM"