France’s main potato crop is expected to fall 23% this year, or by about 2 million metric tons, after exceptionally hot and dry summer weather, the growers’ group UNPT said.
The average yield for France’s food potato crop is expected to fall 14% from 2025 to 37.4 metric tons per hectare, UNPT said. That would make it the second-lowest yield in the past 30 years, after 2022, another year marked by severe summer weather.
The decline in production will compound the impact of a 10% reduction in the area planted this year. French growers had reduced plantings after abundant European supplies last year, according to UNPT.
Potatoes and other summer crops, including maize, have been hit hard by extreme weather across Europe.
The heat and drought are also threatening potato size and quality, UNPT said, urging processors, including French fry makers, to relax their contract terms.
European potato production is concentrated in a northwestern belt that includes Belgium, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, all of which have also experienced drought and heatwaves.
The European Union’s crop monitoring service on Monday forecast that potato yields across the bloc would fall to 34.6 metric tons per hectare in 2026, about 6% below the five-year average.
