Potatoes
O’Shea Farms supply potatoes to Iverk Produce all year round. We grow a wide variety of early and main crop potatoes. Early varieties include Premier, Home Guard and Queens. These early varieties are harvested from mid-May to July. Main crop varieties include Rooster, Kerr’s Pink, Golden Wonders and several white varieties. Our main crop potatoes are harvested from July to October. These potatoes are kept in specialist potato stores which ensures top quality Irish potatoes are available 365 days a year.
Potato Varieties
Salad & Baby Potatoes
The consumption of salad and baby potatoes is on the increase in Ireland. These were traditionally imported from the UK and France but in recent times we have developed the technology to grow them in the South East of Ireland where climatic conditions are suitable. We now grow 100% of the Jazzy variety salad potato crop needed to supply our market.
White Potatoes
For many years, several thousand tonnes of white potatoes, grown specifically for the chip shop trade, have been imported from the UK and Spain. Since 2020, O’Shea Farms have worked closely with Meadowfresh Foods and Bord Bia to develop an Irish chipping potato trade. This is now a fast-growing market for Irish potato growers, and has given us an opportunity to diversify the varieties we grow.
We work closely with over 40 growing partners in the South East, supplying them with technical support from our agronomists and a steady market for their crops. We are members of the Irish Potato Federation and support their campaign to develop potato consumption as a healthy food option. To learn more, see www.potato.ie
John J Burke, a former Teagasc agronomist wrote a book called ‘Growing the Potato Crop’ to promote and improve potato productivity in sub Saharan Africa. This book, sponsored by O’Shea Farms, provides farmers in many parts of the world, and their agricultural advisers, with a scientific guide on how to improve potato production. It is also a useful handbook for anyone interested in the science of potato growing.
You can download it for free here