German seed potato growers have planted considerably more seed potatoes for the 2024 season than was the case last season. This brings the area to 18.380 hectares. The growth is also necessary to provide consumer cultivation with sufficient seed potatoes. The Dutch Fontane variety almost doubles in area and is the second largest variety in our eastern neighbors.
The seed potato area in Germany has increased significantly again this season from 16.860 hectares to 18.380 hectares, or an increase of 9%. This is evident from the new figures from the German Federal Plant Variety Office Bundessortenamt. In recent years, the area had actually shrunk as a result of, among other things, the sharply increased costs and the competition from good consumption potato prices. In 2023, the area even shrank by 8%. The peak was reached in 2020, when Germany grew more than 19.300 hectares of seed potatoes.
Fontane is gaining ground
Germany has quite a few potato varieties and a large variety covers a lot less area compared to the Netherlands. For example, the German table potato variety Belana remains the largest with 622 hectares, although this variety is shrinking by 39 hectares. This is followed by Fontane, where our eastern neighbors have 506 hectares of seed potatoes. The variety has been one of the biggest growers in recent years and has increased by 2023% in area compared to 41. This is followed by the Bernina and Jelly varieties with 491 and 453 hectares respectively, a growth of 20% and 25%. Agria, which was one of the largest varieties a few seasons ago, has actually dropped in recent years and has again planted 11% less this year. This area amounts to 360 hectares, according to the figures from the Bundessortenamt.
The increase in area is clearly reflected in the largest seed potato growing state of Lower Saxony. The area amounts to 7.418 hectares, while the area last season was 6.710 hectares. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the second largest area, cultivation grows from 2.649 to 2.940 hectares. The largest increase is in the state of Saxony, where cultivation increases by 68% and amounts to 698 hectares.