According to the portal Potatoes News, of all EU countries, Belgium and France were most affected by the summer drought. Thus, the harvest in Belgium this year is 20 percent lower than last year.
According to farmers, the summer of 2022 will go down in history as a difficult and costly period, not only due to low yields, but also due to high electricity and irrigation costs. Early germination of seed potatoes will also make future storage more difficult and costly.
With higher diesel and fertilizer costs and rising risks from climate change, some entrepreneurs are wondering what to plant in spring 2023? Without guarantees from buyers, they may decide to grow more alternative crops. Rising costs need to be spread across the entire supply chain.