Potato production has plummeted 37% since 2000 according to a new report from Eurostat.

EU countries are now producing 27.9 million fewer tonnes than they did in 2000.

The report shows that in 2023, 48.3 million tonnes of potatoes were harvested in the EU, a slight increase compared with 2022 when 47.5 million tonnes were harvested.

Germany is the largest producer in terms of production, accounting for 24% of the total in 2023, followed by France with almost 18% and the Netherlands with 13.4%.

Romania (32.4%) and Poland (25.1%) have the largest number of potato farms, although they remain small in economic terms.

Ireland accounts for just 0.7% of EU production.

Organics

In 2020, 25,000 farms in the EU out of one million produced organic potatoes. This represented only 2.5% of all farms producing potatoes. Austria had the highest share of farms producing potatoes organically at 25.6%.