Germany dug up so many potatoes this year that they have to give them away for free

Illustrative photo. Photo: Nasha Niva

Despite potatoes being one of the most popular products in the country (on average, each German resident eats about 63 kilograms per year, and about 330 thousand tons of frozen frying potatoes are consumed annually), this year's supply significantly exceeded demand.

Part of the harvest was used for charitable purposes. Some were sent to Ukraine as humanitarian aid, several tons were given to the Berlin Zoo for animal feed. The best quality potatoes were received by soup kitchens for the homeless, kindergartens, schools, churches, and non-profit organizations.

Advertisements appeared in Berlin with information about the locations and times of free distribution. Citizens were invited to simply come with their own containers — a sack, a bucket, or a bag on wheels. In total, there are 174 such points in the capital.

The idea to hold an event called "4000 tons" — which was the exact amount of the surplus — was proposed in December 2025 by a farmer from near Leipzig. The initiative was supported by a Berlin newspaper and an ecological non-profit project linked to the search engine Ecosia.

Many Berlin residents admit that they initially did not believe in such a generous offer. Some thought that photos of potato mountains were the result of neural network work, and the news itself was a fabrication. But confirmation that the distribution was real quickly spread through social networks.

As a result, even in severe frosts, the city came alive: people with backpacks, old bags, and trolleys went for potatoes, helped each other carry heavy sacks, and exchanged homemade recipes.

The media also recalled a historical fact: in the 18th century, the Prussian King Frederick II issued a so-called "potato decree," which obliged residents to grow potatoes and consume them as food, despite initial distrust of the product.

Over time, the potato became so ingrained in German culture that Germans continue to eat it in large quantities, even despite dietitians' advice to limit carbohydrates. In 2017, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel even shared her potato soup recipe, noting that she always mashed potatoes by hand, not with kitchen appliances.

However, not everyone is thrilled with the free distribution. A number of farmers believe that agriculture is getting out of control, and the work of agrarians is being devalued. Environmental activists compare current photos of warehouses filled with unnecessary potatoes to the situation in the 1970s, when huge surpluses of milk and butter accumulated in Europe due to government purchases, which had nowhere to be stored.

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