Potato harvesting is at its peak in Hokkaido, the northernmost prefecture of Japan and the country’s largest grower of the crop.
But farmers are sounding the alarm about damage to the harvest from scorching summer heat.
The Tokachi region in Hokkaido produces about 30 percent of Japan’s potatoes.
Farmer Yoshii Takuya grows the vegetable in the area in the town of Memuro. He harvests the popular Danshaku variety on his 9-hectare farm, as well as those for making chips.
Yoshii says larger numbers of potatoes this year are smaller in size and irregularly shaped, which he blames on the record-breaking summer temperatures.
“We’ve had unusually hot summers for three years in a row, and I’m worried that this kind of weather will become a norm,” he said. “I can only hope the weather will return to normal. But I also hope that heat-tolerant varieties of potatoes will be developed.”
Yoshii says the yield from his potato harvest this year is 10 to 20 percent lower than usual.
AloJapan.com