We’re being forced out, say potato growers

The reduction is a result of last year’s appalling season, but growers now say that they are being ‘targeted’ because they are too small.This, though, has been denied by JPMO director John Neal , who is also a board member of the growers’ co-operative, the Jersey Producers and Merchants Organisation (JP&MO).He said that there was a massive problem of oversupply at the moment and the industry had to change if it was to survive at all.A letter has been sent to growers by JP&MO chairman Peter Le Maistre, giving them until the end of this week to consider a financial offer to leave the industry.He refers to difficult trading conditions, uneconomic returns and a ‘mixed supplier base’.