"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."
"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."
Germans consume about 63kg of potatoes per person annually. A bumper harvest produced the highest yield in 25 years, creating a large surplus called the Kartoffel-Flut. A single farmer near Leipzig offered 4,000 tonnes after a sale fell through, prompting a Berlin potato dump with 174 distribution points around the city. Soup kitchens, homeless shelters, kindergartens, schools, churches, non-profits and the Berlin zoo received tonnes for food and animal feed. Ordinary residents queued to collect sacks, buckets and handcarts of free potatoes. Two lorry loads were sent to Ukraine. The operation was organised by a Berlin newspaper with the eco-friendly search engine Ecosia.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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