New Environmental Regulation May Jeopardize Dutch Potato Crops

Potato processors worry that new environmental regulations may hinder the production of Dutch potatoes for French fries, rendering The Netherlands partially dependent on imported fries.

According to European law, potatoes grown on sandy soil must be harvested by October 1 starting in 2023 to stop hazardous nitrates and nitrogen compounds from entering the groundwater.

According to the regulation, “catch crops” - rapidly developing intermediary plants that take up nitrogen - must be planted by that time.

“Many potatoes are still in the ground in September and October because they have to ripen and harden, or they are no good for chips. […] We have a very efficient system at the moment but there is no capacity to process huge quantities at the same time if harvests have to take place in September,” Andries Middag, director of the Association for the Potato Processing Industry (Vavi) told the AD.

According to the AD, the policy will have an impact on about half of the 80,000 hectares of land in the Netherlands that are now used for potato farming. Around 3,000 potato farmers in the Netherlands produce four billion kilograms of potatoes annually for the processing industry. Farmers have blasted the practice of "growing by calendar."

“Government rules are telling us to live more with nature and use fewer pesticides. But growing according to a calendar is not part of that. We don’t look at the calendar on the toilet door to see when to sow and when to harvest. That depends on the weather or the moisture in the ground,” potato grower Piet Evenhuis declared, cited by the above-mentioned media source.

Many farmers lack sheds to keep their potatoes in. The proposal is “unjust and unwise,” according to the Limburg agriculture organization LLTB.

“It would be much better to measure how much nitrate is actually in the soil in each field,” LLTB soil expert Guido Schriever said.

According to a representative for the agriculture ministry, the policy would require some growers to make “an adjustment,” but good water quality is a crucial objective.