This year's potato harvest in Saxony is impressive. "The potatoes have grown very nicely and the crops have been able to make good use of the rainfall," says Ariane Weiß, Managing Director of the Saxon Potato Association, to the German Press Agency. She speaks of a good, average harvest with yields of around 40 tons per hectare. "The quality is very good. The potatoes are not too big and not too small - just the way consumers want them."
According to Weiß, the first potato harvesters started in the Leipzig area in July to get the coveted early potatoes out of the ground. The harvest normally lasts until the beginning of October. The majority of the local harvest is marketed as fresh potatoes. However, many potatoes are also processed into salads and chilled products. In purely mathematical terms, Saxony could cover its consumption of fresh potatoes from domestic production, emphasized Weiß. However, there is a lack of chips, potato chips and starch factories here.
