The reason is the failure of gastronomy and tourism in the region. 15,000 tons are produced annually.
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Around 2,000 tons of potatoes from Tyrol are in danger of rotting due to a lack of sales opportunities. Around 15,000 tons of potatoes grow in Tyrol's fields every year.
Half of this is marketed directly, 4,000 tons go to the grocery trade and 2,500 tons to the catering trade. Due to the closed gastronomy and the unusual tourism, 2,000 tons are now in stock, the Tyrolean Chamber of Agriculture announced in a broadcast on Wednesday.
Well over 200 companies are affected. “The aim must now be to bring the potatoes to consumers quickly through our local suppliers,” said the President of the Chamber of Agriculture, Josef Hechenberger. Recycled or bagged elaborately produced and high-quality food in the biogas plant was not an option, he added.
Domestic potatoes would normally already be sold out by this time. The very good harvest of the previous year and the discontinuation of gastronomy and tourism would now have led to a “worsening situation” because the potatoes cannot be stored forever.
“Our local suppliers now have to buy the goods from our farmers and place the local tubers primarily on their shelves,” demanded Hechenberger, who also asked consumers to buy the local potatoes.
