The mild weather made it possible: the first new potatoes are being planted in the German region Rheinland. They are planting new potatoes on 4,000 hectares of the total potato acreage of 30,000 hectares in the German region of Nordrhein-Westfalen explains the RLV. The main cultivation area is still the Rheinland with roughly 80 percent of the cultivation.
If any frost might still occur, it will not harm any of the potatoes at first, explains the RVL. It is after roughly 3 weeks, when the small potato plants are starting to grow above the ground, things will get dangerous for them. For this reason the potato fields are being covered with plastic that will protect them from the cold. But if the weather co-operates, the first potatoes from Nordrhein-Westfalen will be available from mid till late June which then can be served with the regional asparagus. Only then the growers will know if their hard work has paid off. Given that potatoes are sold all over Europe, the price will mostly depend on the course of the weather in the growing areas of Spain all the way to northern Germany.