GB Potatoes has launched a campaign highlighting the start of the 2026 British early potato season, emphasizing the freshness, provenance and regional heritage that distinguish the crop from imported alternatives.

Harvesting is now underway in three of the UK’s best-known early potato growing regions – Ayrshire in Scotland, Pembrokeshire in Wales and the Sandlings area of Suffolk in eastern England. According to GB Potatoes, crops harvested in these locations can reach supermarket shelves within 24 hours of being lifted, washed, packed and distributed.

The industry body says the season offers an opportunity to reconnect consumers with British-grown potatoes at a time when growers continue to face rising production costs, labour pressures and increasing challenges around seed and water availability.

In Suffolk, the Three Musketeers grower group operates across approximately 1,600 hectares of the Sandlings, a strip of light sandy coastal soil that extends inland from the Suffolk coast. The five-grower partnership begins harvesting from early June after planting its earliest crops under fleece protection.

The group’s potatoes are harvested in the morning, washed, hydrocooled and packed on the same day before being transported to distribution centres.

“There is nothing better than grabbing a handful of new potatoes off a harvester of an afternoon, taking them home and having them in the evening,” said grower Jim Wayman. “That is as good as it gets.”

The growers produce around 65,000 tonnes of potatoes annually and supply a significant share of the UK packed potato market during the summer months. The farms collaborate on machinery, expertise and supply chain operations, a model designed to improve efficiency and resilience.

Further west, in Pembrokeshire, fourth-generation grower William Richards produces salad potatoes on 30 hectares within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The region’s Pembrokeshire Earlies hold Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, making them one of only a small number of Welsh food products with the designation.

The crop is harvested from early June and packed the same day at Puffin Produce’s facility in Haverfordwest before reaching Welsh retailers.

“It’s Welsh produce for Welsh consumers,” Richards said.

Richards noted that sustainability is embedded in the farm’s long-established production system, which combines potatoes with grass, spring barley, beef and sheep enterprises in a five-year rotation.

On Scotland’s Ayrshire coast, grower Sandy Wilson continues a family tradition of early potato production dating back to the early 1900s. The business is now the last commercial early potato grower operating in an area that once supported more than 1,200 hectares of early potato production.

“That’s the main reason I do it,” Wilson said of the first harvest of the season. “Seeing them come out of the ground early June – even seventy years on, that sight never gets old.”

Wilson attributes the quality of Ayrshire’s early potatoes to the region’s coastal sandy soils and generations of accumulated farming knowledge.

“There is a unique taste to them,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

While the early potato sector continues to benefit from strong consumer recognition, growers across all three regions face significant production risks. Richards pointed to the financial exposure carried by producers when weather or other factors reduce yields.

“The risk is carried solely by the grower,” he said. “You can lose five to ten percent of your crop in a bad year for various reasons, and it never reflects back in the price.”

In Suffolk, water management remains a key priority. Growers have invested in reservoirs, irrigation infrastructure and distribution networks to maintain reliable production in one of England’s driest regions.

Growers also highlighted the challenge posed by imported potatoes entering the market when cold spring conditions delay domestic harvests. However, they argue that British-grown crops offer advantages in freshness, consistency and local provenance.

“We’ve been doing this for 25 years,” said Wayman. “There are only two years in that time where we haven’t been going in the first week of June. We’re pretty robust and reliable. We want consumers to be buying from here.”

GB Potatoes believes the early potato season plays an important role in promoting the wider UK potato sector by showcasing a product that combines freshness, regional identity and short supply chains. The organization argues that the sector’s future growth will depend not only on production volumes but also on strengthening consumer awareness of the people, regions and expertise behind Britain’s annual early potato harvest.