Poland pushes ‘potato patriotism’ amid import surge

The Polish government is urging consumers to buy local as falling potato prices and rising imports, mostly from Germany, fuel farmer anger.

Potato overproduction has weighed on EU markets for months, driving down prices for a once-profitable crop. Poland, where the tuber is a staple food like elsewhere, has been no exception.

The “Polish Potato” campaign encourages citizens to engage in “consumer patriotism” and favour local potatoes from last season rather than “new potatoes from abroad”.

“Let’s choose what’s good and ours,” reads the site.

Last year was a record for domestic output in Poland. The country harvested around 18% more potatoes in 2025 than in 2024, while imports rose a further 16%.

As reports of local growers dumping produce make headlines, foreign potatoes have become an easy target – particularly German ones, which account for the bulk of imports.

“The German potato are destroying the Polish market,” said Tomasz Ognisty, from the farming branch of the trade union Solidarność, on social media.

Of the roughly 160,000 tonnes of imported potatoes in 2025, about 95,000 came from Germany alone, up 41% year-on-year, according to the ministry spokesperson.

Polish farmers already protested against potato imports last September, bringing a sack of German produce to the ministry.

The spud-price backlash comes amid broader anger over climate policy and trade deals, including agriculture, with farmers and other workers set to demonstrate in Warsaw on Wednesday.

(adm, aw)