potato harvest down, prices will rise

After months of drought and several heat waves, uprooting began in Beauce 15 days ahead of schedule, but the yield is down.

This is not a surprise for Paul Coisnon, a young farmer based in Outarville in the Loiret, who remembers very well the first heat stroke in the spring: “It was during the period of tuberization. It is a stage which is very sensitive. The temperature caused the plant to put itself under a little stress, there was an abortion of these tubers, hence the lower yield in the end.

“On varieties such as consumer potatoes, we normally have between 12 and 14 potatoes per foot. Today, we are below ten. And even seven or eight on certain varieties.”

Paul Coisnon, farmer in Loiret

at franceinfo

Double trouble: on the more fragile potatoes, you risk discovering black spots when you peel them, according to Pierre Coisnon, Paul’s father and conditioner. He buys and resells the harvests of a hundred farmers, and worries about the months to come: “Given the heat, we could have surprises in storage. Will the potatoes keep as well as usual or not? Potatoes are dormant and after they have want to sprout, that’s nature. I think they will be very nervous this year, I’m afraid it will be very dynamic.”

In Beauce, the potatoes were irrigated. This is not the case in Hauts-de-France, which provides two-thirds of French production. “In places where it has not been irrigated, where there have been heat waves and drought as everywhere, yields are dramatically lowconfirms Luc Châtelain, president of the interprofession. We hear -30%, -35%, -40%. So there, really, we have producers who are in great pain.

No doubt 1.5 million tonnes will be lost in France this year, which does not mean that there will be a shortage in stores. There is room: usually, one out of two French potatoes goes abroad.

But to top it off, production costs jumped 30%. It is therefore obvious for the sector: prices will increase for potatoes, crisps, fries… It remains to be seen in what proportions.