Potato farmers in Þykkvabær hope for a good harvest, RÚV reports. Potato mold has been noticed, but farmers expect that the mold will not be as dangerous as last year. New Icelandic potatoes are already on sale.
If the weather in Iceland remains good, domestic potatoes will be sufficient to feed the country for a year. Markús Ársælsson, a potato farmer, says this hasn’t been the case in recent years, but he still remains optimistic.
“It has gone just fine and looks fine, but you never know until the end of the day what the result is going to be. It can be frosty in August. But as things stand today, it looks good,” Markús said.
“We’re hoping, just crossing our fingers, that nothing comes up now that makes this summer like the one last year, which was brutal,” adds Markús, referring to the 2021 potato mold that devastated the harvest. “Because even though we sprayed them, for some reason, nothing helped with anything.”
Potato production in Iceland has ranged from 7,000 tonnes to 12,000 tonnes depending on the season. It is still difficult for local farmers to compete with the imported potatoes.
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