THIS year's main-crop potato harvest is getting under way, and across Europe yields look good, with a bumper harvest expected, up 7 per cent on last year.

With the prospect of so many potatoes, prices are dropping and the situation is made worse by the trade restrictions recently imposed by the Russian Federation.

Here in Scotland lighter land has become so dry that it threatens to damage the potato skins as they are harvested - and that's important. Supermarkets want perfect looking potatoes.

For instance, the well-know variety Maris Piper, that all-round dry and floury favourite, that is good for all methods of cooking, including making excellent chips, is prone to scab, a disease that blemishes the skin. That can lead to them being rejected by supermarkets, which is silly when you remember we peel the skins off before cooking them.

Far too many potatoes are rejected by supermarkets and end up being fed to cattle, or, as happened this year, dumped.

Although there are around 500 varieties of potatoes, only about 80 of them are grown commercially, so only a few are well-known and available in supermarkets.

The problem is that too many older varieties of potatoes are not cosmetically perfect. It's not surprising that many people think of potatoes as bland and insipid if they can only buy flawless, perfectly shaped specimens - and many consumers are now switching to rice and pasta.

Potatoes had a unique place in the British diet and we still eat around 130kg every year: boiled, baked, roasted, mashed and chipped. The humble spud has been a familiar, much-loved part of mealtimes, but over the past 20 years there has been a 40 per cent drop in the amount of fresh potatoes eaten in British homes.

Although the total value of the fresh potato category went up 21.5 per cent to £1.4bn in 2013, this was purely the result of higher prices at the tills - consumption plummeted, with volumes down 7.9 per cent year-on-year to 1.5m tonnes.

The figures, published through the Potato Council, highlight the continuing impact of 2012 and 2013's poor weather, which caused major disruption to potato growers in the UK and Europe, and led to the smallest EU harvest since 2006. Wholesale and retail prices soared in response, causing householders to cut back on their purchases.

According to the Potato Council, another reason for the decline in sales was supermarkets reducing the size of potato packs from 3kg to 2.5kg to mask the fact that the price had risen.

Apparently, consumers thought they were buying the same amount when, in reality, those packs were nearly 17 per cent lighter although they cost the same. Of course there are other reasons for the decline in consumption.

Carbohydrate-rich foods have been vilified unfairly, and potatoes are the latest target. When it comes to its maligned reputation, a bigger problem is that potatoes have started spending too much time with the wrong crowd. They've been demonised for their association with deep-fat fryers - and not without reason.

Children eat less than half the vegetables they should, and of the vegetables they do eat, about a quarter come in the form of potato crisps and chips.

According to research by YouGov, a third of children eat crisps daily and 40 per cent of adults eat them at lunchtime. One in four of all British potatoes consumed in Britain are eaten as chips. Chips are eaten by 80 per cent of all UK households.

The Potato Council has started to fight back to save this valuable sector of British farming. As I said, the fresh potato sector is worth £1.4bn, but total potato sales add up to a hefty £2.3bn at retail (excluding crisps and snacks). There are currently 2200 potato producers in Great Britain, with slightly less than 400 of these in Scotland.

Although the harvest has only really got under way in Scotland, the prospect of a bumper crop weighs heavily on the market. The average price farmers are currently getting on the open market is £98/tonne, which is £60 a tonne lower than a year ago and still falling.

Little wonder the Potato Council has embarked on a promotion to convince consumers that potatoes are a great, nutritional option for low-income households and families facing tightened budgets.

It is pointing out that a pack of potatoes costs on average 79p per kg, or 15p for a baked potato which can be made into a nourishing meal with the addition of baked beans.