Too small for fries: Drought shrinks Belgian potatoes
MATHIEU Comijn inspected rows of potatoes in a field of cracked earth and browned leaves, pulling from the ground tubers barely the size of ping-pong balls.
A Belgian farmer named Mathieu Comijn was inspecting fields of cracked earth and browned leaves, examining tiny tubers that were barely larger than ping-pong balls. Disappointed, he asked, "How do you expect to make fries out of these?" as he pulled another plant from the ground. The normally large potatoes he expected to be four times as big had been devastated by a combination of weather extremes.
Heavy rain and storms in the spring weakened the soil, followed by exceptionally hot and dry conditions in the summer, which caused the soil to harden and prevent the potatoes from growing properly. This 30-year-old farmer had never seen anything like it. Comijn's harvest in Amay, near the city of Liege, was destined to become long, golden fries, a beloved staple in Belgium.
With only a month left until the harvest on September 20th, none of the potatoes were larger than his hand. The only silver lining was that their flavor wasn't affected by their small size. Comijn's father, a septuagenarian, struggled to remember such a dry weather pattern, except perhaps during a historic heatwave in 1976. Despite their supply contracts, the Comijn family, who grow 500 hectares of potatoes, will have to use last year's stocks to fulfill their commitments and draw on varieties that aren't as good.
Fry prices are likely to rise as supplies become more scarce, causing distress among fry vendors in Belgium.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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