BEEMSTER: It’s potato planting season, but many Dutch farmers are facing a mountain of a problem, with a million tons of potatoes left over from last season due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Restaurants in the Netherlands, many serving popular deep fried “patat”, have been closed since mid-March, with a ban on public gatherings set to last until June 1 at least.. With their closure, the market for potatoes collapsed overnight.
“This is a dramatic season, a turn of events no one could have predicted,” said Dirk de Heer from his farm in Beemster, in North Holland.
De Heer says he is selling his crop to a dairy farmer for 0.01 euro per kilogram, instead of the 18 cents he had hoped to receive.
De Heer is one of around a thousand farmers in the Netherlands in the same situation.
Food potato production in the Netherlands is roughly 4 million tons annually, of which a quarter is exported.
The country’s agricultural organization LTO estimates damages from the virus outbreak so far at 6 billion euros, with the floral industry also hard-hit.
In a dramatic turn of events, top leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has reached…
As PTI convoys from across the country kept on marching Islamabad for the party's much-touted…
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has instructed the speakers of the national assembly and Punjab's provincial…
Following the government's efforts to ease tensions in Kurram, a ceasefire was agreed between the…
In a worrying development, Pakistan's poliovirus tally has reached 55 after three more children were…
Leave a Comment