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Lithuanian farmers are digging the first potatoes of this year’s crop in just a few days, but markets, online ads and some supermarkets already offer fresh potatoes called Lithuanian. Is this product really national?
Are the Poles becoming Lithuanian?
A few days ago, ads were posted on social media: Farmers are ready to take home potatoes from this year’s first harvest.
Potato prices range from 1.40 to 1.50 euros, less frequently asking for two euros per kilogram.
I am not the forerunner, but the Kaunas night market. Traders bring Romanian potatoes and sell them as Lithuanian.
Marijampolė farmers sell fresh “Solista” type potatoes for 1.5 euros per kilogram. Slightly smaller, medium-sized potatoes cost the euro, while smaller potatoes sell for 60 euro cents each. Farmers in the Kaunas district advertise that they sell fresh potatoes for one euro or 1.3 euros.
And in northern Lithuania, fresh potatoes are sold for just 0.40 euros per kilogram.
According to the farmers, this price shows that buyers are not offered Lithuanian, but Polish or even Romanian potatoes.
Two weeks ago, fresh Polish potatoes issued on the Polish market cost only 30 euro cents, so traders are likely to use them, saying this is already the first Lithuanian harvest, and that they are attracting buyers.
The first potatoes – in Kedainiai
Potatoes are still blooming in the fields of Petras Vasiliauskas, a Dreverna-based farmer, and no one yet grows potatoes in the coastal zone.
Rugilė Gikarė, the commercial manager of this farm, recalled that drought prevailed in western Lithuania, spring was cold.
“We are not harvesting yet, we are not yet harvesting. As far as I know, only one Kėdainiai farmer was the first in Lithuania to pick the first potatoes last Friday,” said R. Gikarė.
In some supermarkets, you can also see notes that Lithuanian potatoes are already being sold. The question is, are they really grown in our country?
“I doubt if it is really Lithuanian potatoes. There really is no saturation of Lithuanian potatoes in the markets or stores yet. The first shipment that reached the chain stores was, to my knowledge, very small. The first harvest was only 16 tons. Polish potatoes are likely to be sold in the markets. ” , only the label says they are Lithuanian “, – noted R. Gikarė.
It is announced on the social network that Šilutė residents are also digging the first potatoes, selling them for 1.4 euros per kilogram.
“I suspect they are Poles. No one is harvesting potatoes in Šilutė yet. To grow the first potatoes these days, the first harvesters needed to plant them with special equipment, cover them from frost, take care of them and invest a lot of money. We only dug the first potatoes later St. John’s. ” assured P. Vasiliauskas, commercial manager of the farm.
Dreverniškės will offer Colomba potatoes in the market.
The harvest was devastated by snow.
Kėdainiai farmer Rimantas Žebarauskas, one of the first to dig the first Lithuanian potatoes with his colleague, predicted that this year potatoes will be perhaps pennies cheaper than last year.
“I am not the forerunner, but the Kaunas night market. Merchants bring Romanian potatoes and sell them as Lithuanian,” joked R. Žebarauskas.
R.Žebarauskas believes that this year the first potatoes will cost almost 1.30 euros.
“Potatoes grown in Lithuania will not be very large, nor so beautiful, the skin will easily peel off. This will also separate buyers. They should be consumed as soon as possible,” said the farmer.
R.Žebarauskas said that the potato fields he cultivated suffered a lot this year due to the snow covering Lithuania in May. Although Kėdainiai is one of the few farmers that has a special technology that protects potatoes from frost.
“The snow that fell in May broke many potatoes, only half the harvest was left. We suffered losses. And the price of potatoes this year will be lower than last year. I think a kilo of potatoes will cost around 1.19- 1.29 euros “. Producers can expect around 70 cents, “said the farmer.
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