Summer has wreaked havoc on the potato fields.
It was too hot and too dry.
Result: the average yield of potatoes in France in 2022, of 39.2 tonnes per hectare, is the lowest for 27 years.
"You have to go back to the 1995 campaign and its national yield of 38.2 tonnes per hectare to reach such levels," producers' organizations lamented on Thursday.
Production of ware potatoes, which can be stored longer than new potatoes, will therefore decline by 12.2% in one year.
Huge losses for producers
The most affected area is the territory of the former Rhône-Alpes region, which has seen its production volume decrease by 32.1% in one year, and has the lowest average yield, at 22.9 tonnes per hectare.
Last August, at the heart of the exceptional heat wave and drought that hit France and part of Europe, the National Union of Potato Producers had already predicted that this year would be "the worst harvest recorded since 2000", and amounted to "more than 200 million euros" in losses for producers.
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