https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/31/record-harvest-berlin-giveaway-potatoes [p] Skip to main contentSkip to navigation Close dialogue1/3Next imagePrevious imageToggle caption Skip to navigation Print subscriptions Newsletters Sign in US[ ] * US edition * UK edition * Australia edition * Europe edition * International edition The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian [ ] * News * Opinion * Sport * Culture * Lifestyle Show moreHide expanded menu * [ ]News + View all News + US news + US politics + World news + Climate crisis + Middle East + Ukraine + US immigration + Soccer + Business + Environment + Tech + Science + Newsletters + Wellness * [ ]Opinion + View all Opinion + The Guardian view + Columnists + Letters + Opinion videos + Cartoons * [ ]Sport + View all Sport + Soccer + NFL + Tennis + MLB + MLS + NBA + WNBA + NHL + F1 + Golf * [ ]Culture + View all Culture + Film + Books + Music + Art & design + TV & radio + Stage + Classical + Games * [ ]Lifestyle + View all Lifestyle + The Filter + Wellness + Fashion + Food + Recipes + Love & sex + Home & garden + Health & fitness + Family + Travel + Money * Search input [ ] google-search Search + Support us + Print subscriptions + Newsletters + Download the app * + Search jobs + Digital Archive + Guardian Licensing + Live events + About Us + The Guardian app + Video + Podcasts + Pictures + Inside the Guardian + Guardian Weekly + Crosswords + Wordiply + Corrections + Tips * Search input [ ] google-search Search + Search jobs + Digital Archive + Guardian Licensing + Live events + About Us * World * Europe * US news * Americas * Asia * Australia * Middle East * Africa * Inequality * Global development A warehouse full of potatoes [ ] The agricultural company Osterland Agrar GmbH's 4,000-tonne surplus of potatoes in a warehouse in Frohburg, near Leipzig. Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy View image in fullscreen The agricultural company Osterland Agrar GmbH's 4,000-tonne surplus of potatoes in a warehouse in Frohburg, near Leipzig. Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy Germany Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes across Berlin From zoos to soup kitchens, people are hauling away tonnes of surplus spuds after the biggest crop in 25 years Kate Connolly Kate Connolly in Berlin Sat 31 Jan 2026 08.00 ESTLast modified on Sat 31 Jan 2026 11.49 EST Share Germans love their potatoes. They eat on average 63kg a person every year, according to official statistics. But the exceptional glut of potatoes produced by farmers during the last harvest has overwhelmed even the hardiest of fans. Named the Kartoffel-Flut (potato flood), after the highest yield in 25 years, the bumper crop has inspired one farmer to organise a potato dump on Berlin, with appeals going out around the German capital for people to come to various hotspots and pick them up for free. Soup kitchens, homeless shelters, kindergartens, schools, churches and non-profit organisations are among those to have taken their fill. Even Berlin zoo has participated in the "rescue mission", taking tonnes of potatoes that would otherwise have gone to landfill, or to produce biogas, to feed its animals. Two lorry loads have been sent to Ukraine. Ordinary city residents, many feeling the squeeze over the rise in the cost of living, have arrived at pre-announced potato dump locations, filling up anything from sacks and buckets to handcarts. Astrid Marz queued recently in Kaulsdorf, on the eastern edge of Berlin, one of 174 distribution points spontaneously set up around the city, to stuff an old rucksack with spuds. "I stopped counting at 150. I think I've got enough to keep me and my neighbours going until the end of the year," she said. The operation, called 4000 Tonnes after the surplus a single potato farmer near Leipzig offered in December after a sale fell through at the last minute, was organised by a Berlin newspaper with the Berlin-based eco-friendly not-for-profit search engine Ecosia. Workers distribute potatoes for their customers at the Berliner Tafel e.V. food bank.View image in fullscreen Workers distribute potatoes for their customers at the Berliner Tafel e.V. food bank. Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy Live News. "At first I thought it was some AI-generated fake news when I saw it on social media," Marz, a teacher, said. "There were pictures of huge mountains of 'earth apples'," she recalled, using the word Erdapfel, an affectionate term for the potato sometimes used by Berliners, "with the instruction to come and get them for free!" The excitement has lifted spirits at a time when arctic cold has Berlin in its grip, hampering travel, grinding public transport to a halt and leaving pavements hazardously icy. "There was a really party-like atmosphere," said Ronald, describing how people cheerily helped one other with heavy loads and swapped culinary tips when he recently picked up potatoes for his family at the Tempelhofer Feld. As a result of the buzz, the potato is receiving something of a new lease of life. It has helped resurrect stories about how the humble tuber first became popular in Germany, after Prussia's Frederick II issued an order for its cultivation in the 18th century, known as the K artoffelbefehl (potato decree), establishing it as a staple food despite reported initial scepticism over its strange texture and form. Recipes galore are being shared online as those who have scooped up the spuds try to work out what to do with the surfeit. Although the potato has sometimes been spurned in recent years as some fitness gurus have recommended avoiding carbohydrates, experts have highlighted its nutritional properties, such as vitamin C and potassium. Celebrity Berlin chef Marco Muller of the Rutz restaurant has said now is the ideal moment to give the potato the Michelin-star treatment. He uses an innovative technique to make a rich broth from roasted potato peelings and a sought-after potato vinaigrette. Another of the recipes doing the rounds is Angela Merkel's K artoffelsuppe (potato soup), which the former German chancellor first shared with voters in the run-up to 2017's general election in an interview with a celebrity magazine. A shot of a dark warehouse full of potatoesView image in fullscreen Stock of spare potatoes thought to amount to 4,000 tonnes near Leipzig. Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA Her hot pot tip? To give it the necessary lumpy texture, she revealed: "I always pound the potatoes myself with a potato masher, rather than using a food mixer." 'We want to make jacket potatoes sexy again!': how the humble spud became a fast food sensation Read more Criticism has come from farmers in the region, who say the market in Berlin is even more saturated and their crop has been devalued further still by the vast giveaway. More widely, environmental lobbyists have said the glut in part stems from a warped and out-of-control food industry, and that the mountains of potatoes pictured in storage facilities across the region is reminiscent of the notorious butter mountains and milk lakes of the 1970s, when farmers were overly incentivised to produce food owing to the European Economic Community's guarantee to buy up surplus products at high prices. While it's the potato's turn this year, last year hops were in surplus and next year, it is predicted, it will be milk. A last hoorah for the intervention is expected in the coming days, and those keen to participate in the potato party are urged to keep a close eye on the organisers' website for the next drops. There are, in theory, about 3,200 tonnes (3,200,000kg or 7,056,000lbs) still up for grabs. 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