Scottish Agricultural Census - provisional results: June 2020

Planted potato area remains steady

The area used to grow potatoes remained steady over the past year. The total area of planted potatoes was 28,400 hectares. This is two per cent lower than the ten-year average. Although the total planted potato area remained steady, there was a decrease in seed (planting) potatoes and an increase in ware (eating) potatoes.

Area used to grow potatoes: 28,400 hectares

Scotland has a reputation for growing high quality potatoes, particularly seed potatoes. Scottish seed potatoes are sold all over the world and a register of seed potato producers is kept by Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA).

The area of planted seed potatoes fell by four per cent to 12,000 hectares, whilst the area of planted ware potatoes rose by two per cent to 16,300 hectares. The area of planted seed potatoes is six per cent below the ten-year average.