España: Galicia empieza a recoger la patata con buenas perspectivas de calidad, pero malas de precio argenpapa.com.ar/noticia/16434-

Under the auspices of the IXP Pataca de Galicia alone, the region has planted 690 hectares of one of its most characteristic foods this year. And, although by now it would normally be common for the harvest to have spread across almost the entire territory, the truth is that in one of the main producing regions, Xinzo da Limia, we will still have to wait a couple of weeks to see the tractors working at full speed. This is due to the weather conditions, which forced a delay in planting. This is why this year’s harvest is expected to be slightly lower. The good news is that the quality of what is being harvested is among the best in recent memory, assures the president of the IXP, José Manuel Gómez. The bad news is that the market continues to predict falling prices, which, in some way, will also affect the Galician harvest.

"We started two weeks ago in  the Laza area , in  Monterrei , and we’re also collecting something in  Porqueira  and something in the municipality of Xinzo," says Gómez. The campaign has begun, although more timidly, in the  Riotorto area , but it’s in  Coristanco  where they’re most advanced, "because they’ve already harvested between 15 and 20% of the production," he adds. On this occasion, the IXP has five new producers, who have joined this campaign, and also around 75 more hectares planted. More than half, around 500, are of the Kennebec variety, which is where the harvest has begun. The agria, of which there are more than 200 hectares, has a longer cycle. 

Juan Ramón Sanjurjo, a producer from Coristanco, is currently harvesting potatoes. He explains that this year’s forecast isn’t the best in terms of quantity. "It rained a little, and the potatoes didn’t grow as much as they should. They are smaller, and therefore, we have fewer kilos," he says. The advantage is that, since there isn’t as much water, "the quality is also better and there weren’t any illnesses," he maintains. This week’s rains forced them to temporarily halt the harvest, but he is confident that, weather permitting, the entire crop will be harvested by mid-October.

In A Limia, on the other hand, they’re waiting. At least in the areas surrounding the lagoon. Here, the rain prevented tractors from entering the farms to plant when they should have, and this delayed the entire cycle. "We planted late, and now we won’t start until the end of the month," says Eloy Manso, a farmer in this region. His expectations are not very good. Many of the farmers in this area are coming off a disastrous cereal harvest due to the weather conditions, and they fear that the potato harvest won’t be as good as it should be either.

There will be no quantity of other years, they assure. «Everything came together. They planted late and when the potatoes had to be born and the sprouts had already come out, heat peaks came that burned everything», says Gómez. The advantage of this is that «this year’s harvest has a much more homogeneous caliber, 100% suitable for consumption, and an exceptional quality. It has spectacular organoleptic characteristics and sanitary it is very good», he adds. 

The burden of the price: twenty-something cents per kilo

 The biggest problem facing Galician producers is the price the markets are paying for potatoes, which this year is too low. Although the region has a quality brand, Pataca de Galicia, which consistently achieves better prices than those without the IXP, the truth is that, as its president acknowledges, "the prices being offered in the rest of Spain are very low, and even though ours are a little higher, they do affect us somewhat," says Gómez. 

"Last year we got a price of 50 cents per kilo, but this year it’s already around twenty cents. That’s a very fair amount even to cover expenses," says Manso. "The estimated price is between 22 and 23 cents, that’s a pittance," adds Amador Díaz, producer and mayor of A Limia. "We’ve been maintaining prices year after year because we have a very small market," adds Sanjurjo from Coristanco, although he acknowledges that there are consumers who think twice when they see potatoes from abroad for 80 cents "and ours for two euros." 

Gómez points out that Galicia is one of the last regions to harvest potatoes, which begin in Murcia and continue south. "Now that we’re here, the prices being offered in the rest of Spain are very low, and a lot of potatoes are also arriving," he explains. Therefore, he believes the future of this sector in the region depends on continuing to focus on quality, on producing the best possible potatoes to ensure that they are valued in the markets and that markets are willing to pay a higher price.