2023-12-10 15:28:49
– “There will be a shortage of 20% of Swiss potato consumption”
As expected, the 2023 potato harvest was catastrophic. Vice-president of the Swiss Union of Producers, Sébastien Pasche takes stock.
Posted today at 4:28 p.m.
Sébastien Pasche, member of the central committee of Swisspatat.
Jean-Paul Guinnard
Vice-president of the Swiss Union of Potato Producers and producer in Thierrens, Sébastien Pasche takes stock of the 2023 harvest following a year of cultivation with all the problems. And it’s not over!
After a too wet spring and a too dry summer, how did the 2023 harvest go?
The first uprootings, at the beginning of August, were complicated by the very dry soil. It then improved a little, but it has become complicated once more in recent weeks because of the soggy ground. Recently, 400 liters fell in one month, unheard of! Normally, we finish the harvest around October 20, but there are still potatoes in the ground. And every additional day of rain increases the risk that they will never be harvested.
So indigenous production will not cover needs?
No. There will be a shortage of around 100,000 tonnes, or around 20% of Swiss consumption. (editor’s note: each Swiss person eats, on average, around 55 kg of potatoes annually, divided equally between direct consumption and processed products). The shortage will be imported, but the situation is complicated everywhere. In the Netherlands, nearly 500,000 tonnes are still in the ground for the same reasons as here.
Will sales prices rise?
No, all this should not have too much influence on prices for consumers. Particularly because buyers play the game well by accepting lower calibers or lowering their quality criteria.
So 2023 is another bad year for potato producers?
Yes, and it’s starting to be a problem. Even with correct repurchase prices for producers, it becomes difficult to get by. We already have to deal with climate change, which is becoming very real, but, in addition, we always have fewer phytosanitary products available. As a result, we are starting to see total losses in certain fields, for example due to wireworm. A colleague lost 4 hectares of crops: everything went to feed the livestock.
And storage is also complicated?
Yes, for the same reasons for withdrawal of authorization for the use of products, anti-germinatives in this case. On premium potatoes, which were perfect at harvest, we can now have up to 50% losses during storage. And this is the responsibility of the producer, of course. But we must also add the problems of lack of manpower, as in many fields of activity, and that of ever larger machines, but therefore unsuitable for our territory.
Is potato cultivation in Switzerland therefore threatened?
Yes. The research world is working very intensively to find solutions. In particular, there are more resistant varieties, but they do not necessarily have sufficient yields for their cultivation to be profitable. Or they do not meet industry requirements. The situation is really complex.
What to do then?
Well, when we add it all up, we start to look at the possibilities of income via ecological compensation in a different way. (editor’s note: conserve and promote natural environments). They require little work, present almost no risk of failure and guarantee us to receive 4000 francs. per hectare. It’s unfortunate, but it makes you think…
Read alsoSylvain Muller has been a journalist for the Vaudoise section since 2005. He is responsible for the Echallens office and as such covers news from the Gros-de-Vaud district.More info
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