The Dutch potato harvest will ultimately be 4% smaller than predicted last year in the preliminary harvest estimate. However, this doesn't change the fact that the Netherlands has harvested the largest harvest since 2000.
The Netherlands has harvested fewer table potatoes than predicted in October of last year. The preliminary estimate predicted a production of 4,44 million tons of table potatoes. The final estimate is for a harvest of 4,2 million tons. This is 240.000 tons (5,4%) lower than the previous estimate.
The harvested area of ware potatoes has now turned out to be slightly smaller, but it's mainly the tonnage that's lower than previously anticipated. The preliminary forecast had assumed a harvest of 53,5 tons per hectare of ware potatoes. The final estimate is 50,8 tons, or 2,7 tons less per hectare.
Record harvest of seed potatoes
According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the seed potato harvest will total over 1,6 million tons. This is slightly larger than the previous record harvest of 2022. This is mainly due to the very high yields, averaging 38,7 tons per hectare. Compared to 2024, the harvest was 2 tons more per hectare. The area under cultivation was also larger than the previous season. However, the seed potato area, at 41.846 hectares, has not yet returned to the level of 2018 to 2022, when more than 43.000 hectares were cultivated annually.
Starch potato cultivation also yielded high yields per hectare, at 44,5 tons. While the area increased slightly last year, it remained below 40.000 hectares. Total production is therefore slightly higher than in 2024, at 1,75 million tons, but lower than the five-year average.