A Brit farmer has been left with a potato mountain he cannot get rid of – and says one thing is to blame.
Andy Goodacre warns that weight-loss jabs and an emphasis on healthier lifestyles are decimating demand for potatoes and harming fish and chip shop business.
Farmers across the UK report they are facing the prospect of discarding thousands of stored potatoes owing to declining sales of the humble spud.
Farm owner Andy says he has been left with a “potato mountain” he cannot shift after witnessing demand from supermarkets and chip suppliers plummet in recent years.
He suspects the soaring use of weight loss jabs such as Mounjaro and trendier healthier alternatives are responsible.
Chippy patrons are also choosing smaller portion sizes and sharing bags of chips, meaning health-conscious Brits are also affecting the fish and chips trade.
Andy, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, claims over £120,000 worth of his finest potatoes – approximately 600 tonnes – are at risk of being discarded after he said key buyers failed to place orders.
The father-of-two, who has been supplying the chip giant for 40 years, reports shoppers wanted fewer crisps and chips, instead choosing healthier lentil options.
Andy, 65, stated: “For 40 years I’ve grown potatoes for McCain chips and Seabrooks, but their contract got a bit tighter.
“This year we didn’t sign any contract and now we can’t get any orders.
“We’ve been left with a potato mountain we can’t shift.
“I’ve never known a season like it. I think there’s a lot of factors.
“There’s a carry over from last year which depresses the market from the start.
“Then there’s the jabs, where people are eating less and not going to the chip shops as much.
“We’ve spoken to fish and chip shop owners and people are buying a fish and one bag between each other rather than having two bags.
“The fat jab is stopping people’s appetite, they are eating less. There’s tens of thousands of people on them.
Andy says he knows lots of people on the jabs (Image: undefined)
“I’m in a small village and I know loads of people on them, so it definitely has an effect.
“There’s less demand now because of them. It doesn’t seem as though people want to eat like they used to. Also, people are just imagining they’re eating healthier when they eat lentil crisps.”
Andy revealed that his top five varieties are currently stored away, but it’s a race against time to sell them before they spoil by early April.
Andy says some eat lentil crisps instead (Image: undefined)
He added: “In a normal year that would be worth £200 a tonne, so roughly £120,000. In higher years it could be worth £300 a tonne, so even more.
“They’ve been in store since October and they can usually stay there for six months, so we haven’t got very long at all.
“I would prefer to send them to a foodbank, if anybody is willing to come and collect them. If not, there’s a risk they’ll be fed to cattle.”
Andrew Crook, 50, who is the president of the National Federation of Fish Friers, disclosed that these trends were also affecting chip shops.
Andrew, who has been operating his own shop, Skippers of Euxton in Chorley, Lancanshire, since 2007, commented to say: “There’s definitely a cost of living thing with businesses watching their portion size, which can be a huge volume of potatoes lost nationally.
“But then there’s definitely a fat jab factor to it. Many people I speak to are on a fat jab, I see a lot of my customers have lost weight.
Andy with his spuds (Image: undefined)
“There’s definitely factors where people are going to use these jabs, lose weight and then eat less.
“People don’t eat as much in one sitting. If farmers don’t make money on potatoes this year the 2027 crop might not be enough as they might plant other crops.
“It’s important we work with them. We’ve got to make sure the farmers earn a living, too.
Andy doesn’t like the way things are going (Image: undefined)
“Across the board there’s a slight downturn in what people are using, which is down to customers buying less and then the portion control.
“The beginning of the week to the middle of the week is quite quiet.
“Some of these farmers have a lot of these sat in the shed. Anything by June or July is valueless, and can be quite a chunk of their earnings.
“It’d be great if we can have a stable market. It’s a gamble every year, we play the same game and it isn’t looking great.”
