Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of potatoes are about to start rotting in storage. Farmers have no way to sell, or even dispose of, last year’s harvest. Some are now surviving solely on social benefits because they failed to sell their crops. Others, to stay afloat, will be forced to sell parts of their property.
“This is an unprecedented situation in decades. There was an abundant harvest across Europe, and Poland was flooded with potatoes from Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, where farmers had already received state support last year. We are calling on the government to extend similar assistance to Polish farmers. Otherwise, potato production in our country may collapse in the future,” Agnieszka Tołłoczko, representing potato producers, told Gazeta Polska Codzienne. So far, the ministries of agriculture and finance have not offered any concrete support to Polish farmers.
It had been clear as early as August that there would be an exceptionally large harvest. At trade fairs in Germany, Polish representatives were already being asked whether there was any possibility of selling German potatoes in Poland. At that time, German, Belgian, and Dutch farmers, facing a difficult market outlook, were already receiving support from their governments in the form of disposal subsidies. In Poland, many saw a business opportunity and began purchasing these Western potatoes. As a result, they flooded the Polish market.
“Our farmers, deprived of support, now find themselves in a dead-end situation. They have no way to sell their potatoes. They cannot even afford to dispose of them. For example, biogas plants demand payment just to take the crops from farmers. It’s a disaster,”
says Tołłoczko, whose company is a major producer of seed potatoes.
Tołłoczko has alerted both the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance. A petition to the government calling for support has been signed by more than 200 farmers, the largest potato producers in Poland. In a letter dated 9 April to the Minister of Agriculture, producers requested assistance, including “directing part of the raw material to processing plants” as well as financial support (calculated per hectare and assuming 0.40 PLN per kilogram of potatoes, or 0.60 PLN for seed potatoes).
In a subsequent letter dated 20 April, they wrote:
“In many farms, enormous quantities of unsold goods remain in storage, ranging from 100 to as much as 1,000 tonnes or more. Farmers have no means to sell or manage these stocks, leading to mounting losses. We therefore call for urgent state intervention and the launch of financial support for goods that cannot be sold. The current situation has driven many farmers to the brink of financial exhaustion. There is no money for fuel, for starting the new season, for purchasing planting material, or for repaying loans. In many cases, farmers have no means of subsistence.”
Gazeta Polska Codziennie has obtained a recording of a conversation in which the owner of one farm states bluntly: “We are currently living on the 800+ benefit,” adding that she does not have “a single drop of fuel” and no way to resume production.
In a letter dated 15 April to the Minister of Finance, Tołłoczko requested “the opportunity to meet and be heard on behalf of the industry.” She stresses that the dates of these letters are crucial.
“To this day, I have not received a response to any of them. On 16 April, an online meeting took place between the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and potato producers, without any concrete outcomes. Meanwhile, this will soon become a literally foul-smelling problem, as the potatoes begin to rot. And we are talking about thousands of tonnes. The lack of stability and predictable support mechanisms creates a real risk of reduced production and market disruption. If our producers collapse now, it will lead to a breakdown of Polish potato production in the future. There will be no means to rebuild it,”
says Tołłoczko.
“I appeal for support from the government of the Republic of Poland and for the establishment of a specialized unit or task force capable of rapid response and decision-making in crises. Only efficient and coordinated action can prevent the problem from worsening and mitigate its negative economic and social consequences,”
Agnieszka Tołłoczko urges, speaking on behalf of potato producers.