Potato cultivation on the decline in the EU

Since 2000, potato production in the EU has fallen by 36.7%, or 27.9 million tons.

The online agricultural magazine Lantbruksnytt, citing Eurostat statistics, notes that the area under cultivation has not fallen to the same extent, and that potato growers are instead seeing a sharp drop in yields, which it attributes to an increased frequency of both drought and longer periods of rain than before.

“It is therefore a worsening climate for potato production in Europe”, it says.

Other problems faced by potato growers include late blight – which leads to lower yields – and the fact that harvested potatoes are often affected by brown rot due to too much rain “at sensitive times”.

Germany grows the most potatoes

In addition, “several good products” are no longer allowed to be used by potato growers – including the pesticide Reglone, which was previously used to protect crops from pests but will be banned in the EU from 2020 on the grounds that it is much more dangerous than previously thought – not least to aquatic organisms.

Germany and France are the two largest producers of potatoes in the EU, accounting for 24% and 18% of the total, respectively. In the Nordic countries, however, Denmark grows the most potatoes, with Danish potatoes accounting for about 5% of total EU production.