The British new potato needs no introduction, no complicated recipe, and no embellishment – just butter to enjoy this brief, brilliant early summer harvest.
Right now, in three iconic British ‘early potato’ sweet spots, potato lifting is underway. In the coastal fields of Ayrshire, the farmlands of Pembrokeshire, and the Sandlings of Suffolk – farmers who benefit from a warm climate and kind soils have begun their season. Within hours their crops are washed, packed and heading to supermarket shelves.
In Suffolk, Jim Wayman – of the Three Musketeers’ grower group – has been working toward this moment since March. Operating across approximately 1,600 hectares of the Sandlings – a narrow strip of light sandy coastal soil that runs eight miles inland from the Suffolk coast – the group of five growers plants its earliest crops under fleece before lifting from the 1st of June onwards. From field to shelf in under 24 hours, their potatoes are lifted in the morning, washed, hydrocooled and packed on the same day, and in distribution centres before nightfall.
“There is nothing better than grabbing a handful of new potatoes off a harvester of an afternoon, taking them home and having them in the evening,” says Jim. “That is as good as it gets.”
The Sandlings’ unique sandy, acidic soil warms rapidly in sunshine, creating a natural microclimate that makes it one of the earliest production areas in England. The group of farms works collaboratively – sharing machinery, pooling expertise and building resilience into their supply chain in a way that no single farm could achieve alone. They produce around 65,000 tonnes annually, making up a significant proportion of the UK’s packed potato market through June, July and August.
Behind the simplicity of a new potato lies a production story of significant complexity and risk. Rising fuel costs, tightening labour availability, and increasing pressure on seed supply are challenges shared across all three regions
In Suffolk, water is a major challenge. The farmers of the Sandlings have spent decades engineering their land for purpose – reservoirs, underground mains and precision irrigation systems that make one of England’s driest counties one of its most productive.
GB Potatoes sees early potato production as central to that ambition – not just in volume, but in reconnecting consumers with the seasonal story behind what is one of Britain’s most versatile and nutritious staple foods. From the last early potato grower on Ayrshire’s Ardrossan coast to a fourth-generation family farm in the Pembrokeshire National Park to a collaborative network of five Suffolk farms supplying every major supermarket – the early potato season is brief, brilliant, and unmistakably British.
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