Name: Germanys potato surplus puts the pinch on farmers
Uploaded: 2025-10-26T15:05:38.229Z
Duration: 2 min 34 s
Description: A record-high surplus of potatoes in Germany has driven down prices for consumers but come at a big cost for farmers.

A record-high surplus of potatoes in Germany has driven down prices for consumers but come at a big cost for farmers.

Berlin

Germany is experiencing a significant potato surplus, resulting in prices dropping by a third compared to the previous year. While this has benefited consumers, many farmers are facing challenges in selling their harvest, with some forced to discard crops or use them as biomass. The surplus stems from an increase in potato planting—nearly 19,000 more hectares than the previous year—and favorable weather conditions that led to higher yields. Farms without contracts for processing or direct sales have been hit hardest, while those with diversified operations have managed to mitigate some of the impact. Agriculture remains a small part of Germany's GDP, but the country is a leading producer of potatoes within the EU.

Germany's potato surplus puts the pinch on farmers

Potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes. These potatoes are getting cleaned and sorted before they head to the German market. A market that, it turns out, is experiencing a potato surplus. It's been good for shoppers. In supermarkets across the country, potato prices are a third lower than they were last year. It's a welcome relief for consumers. But the surplus has come at a cost to farmers. We're still harvesting fresh produce from the field every week, but now it's almost the end of October. We'll have quantities that we won't be able to sell through our farm shop, and we'll have to figure out how to sell them elsewhere. This year, farmers planted potatoes on nearly 19,000 hectares more than last year. It's the most land use for potatoes in Germany in 25 years. Many did so because potatoes were getting higher prices than other crops. But then Germany had a summer with perfect weather conditions for growing potatoes, lots of rain in June and July, and plenty of sun in August. The combination of increased planting and perfect weather resulted in a much greater yield than expected. Now, the potato market is so saturated, many farmers are finding it difficult to offload their harvest. Some have had to dump crop or use it as biomass. We have very good market conditions in the last years for the potato, and many farmers jumped into potato production without having contracts. A contract, for example, to turn their potatoes into crisps, starch, or fries. It's always advisable to have a contract or to have them directly selling on the market. And if you don't have this, you oversupply the market. Germany's potato harvest this year is an estimated 13 million tons. Farms like the one Lilian Guzman manages is still impacted by the surplus, although not as badly as others. The cooperative farm sells many of its products directly to consumers and keeps a varied agricultural portfolio to protect it from market fluctuations. I think it's very important to actually have a wide range of products. We also have livestock farming, sow farming for production, we keep suckler cows, we have a biogas plant. Farming generates just under 1% of Germany's GDP. The country is, however, the EU market leader when it comes to milk, pork, and potatoes.

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