CROP DAMAGE:FROST DAMAGE to the potato crop which growers said will cost them €15 million is to be assessed by Department of Agriculture officials, it was agreed yesterday.
A delegation of potato growers led by the IFA president, John Bryan, met the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, to seek help for the industry following the freeze up.
The delegation told the Minister and Johnny Brady TD, chairman of the Oireachtas committee on agriculture, they estimated 6,500 acres of the national potato crop still remains in the ground.
They said the damage caused by the freezing weather meant the crop had been wiped out and cannot now be harvested.
IFA potato committee chairman Thomas Carpenter outlined to the Minister the investment value in the potato crop by the country’s 600 commercial growers was €90 million annually with a retail value in excess of €250 million.
Mr Smith later described the meeting as “very useful”.