For the official Kick-off of the early potato harvest in the Palatinate, yesterday a referee’s whistle blew loud and clear! Befitting his appointment as new ‘ambassador for Palatine Grumbeere 2018/19’, Dr. Markus Merk (triple FIFA World Referee and seven times DFB Referee of the Year) officially kicked off events in a field in Rödersheim-Gronau. Thanks to energetic harvesting operations, now fans can look forward to the delicious "spring potato from the Palatinate". "Palatine Grumbeere" - traditionally the first early potatoes from German soil - will shortly be available again in German supermarkets.
Markus Merk certainly proved he had everything under control: in Heiko Ohlinger field, the ambassador from Kaiserslautern played a home game, harvested the first new potatoes by hand. Merk: "As citizen from the Palatine and fan of fresh products from the region, I have a lot of feeling for the Palatine Grumberry. And I also have had practical harvest experience, by the way. If it is only in my own garden!"
Fresh harvest prospects: growers expect more than 100,000 tons
of top quality produce
The Palatinate and the adjacent regions in southwest Germany is the largest contiguous new potato growing area in Germany. In the current season, around 4,000 hectares of early potatoes are grown. Thanks to the climatic excellent location and good irrigation options, the Palatinate traditionally is one of the earliest suppliers of new potatoes in Germany. At peak harvest, in early July, sales volumes amount to up to 3,000 tons per day.
This equates to about 120 trucks, shipping out potatoes to wholesale markets nationwide and to the consumer. Georg Riede: "In 2018 the Palatine new potatoes are of top quality. Our 300 potato producers in the southwest will harvest an estimated 100,000 tons of new potatoes.”
For more information:
Pfälzische Früh-, Speise- und Gattelnpotato-Erzeugergemeinschaft w.V.
Martin-Luther-Str. 69
67433 Neustadt
Telephone: 06321 - 92747 17
Fax: 06321 - 92747 11
E-mail: info@pfaelzer-grumbeere.de
67433 Neustadt
Telephone: 06321 - 92747 17
Fax: 06321 - 92747 11
E-mail: info@pfaelzer-grumbeere.de