Poland: Potato Area Down 93% Since 1961 While Yields Nearly Doubled
Takeaways kle yo
- 93% less potato area in Poland than in 1961 (our calc)
- 7.0 million tonnes harvested in 2025, up 18.4% on 2024
- 184,510 ha of potatoes in 2026, down 13.9% on 2025
- 57% of 2026 declared area sits in five voivodeships
Poukisa li enpòtan
- Pou kiltivatè yo
- Compare your 2026 area and yield with the national cut of about 14% in area. Lower national supply can support prices, but only if your quality and storage are ready.
- Pou procesè yo
- Map contracts against the five main voivodeships. A weather problem in Wielkopolskie or Łódzkie now hits a large share of Polish raw material.
- Pou komèsan yo
- Plan 2026/27 volumes on a smaller Polish area. Watch the next GUS estimate before fixing export or import positions.
- Pou founisè
- Focus seed, storage and irrigation sales on the main regions, where potato area is concentrated and yields are highest.
Rezime 60 segonn
Poland shows how a mass farm crop becomes a specialised one. Over six decades the country gave up roughly nine tenths of its potato land, from about 2.8 million hectares to under 200,000, yet average yields climbed from 16 to above 30 tonnes per hectare. The official 2025 harvest of about 7 million tonnes was a good year, helped by higher yields and a slightly bigger area. For 2026 the signal is weaker: Eurostat records around 184,500 ha, and farm declarations of 185,100 ha confirm the cut from the 2025 record. Five voivodeships in the west and centre, led by Wielkopolskie and Łódzkie, hold well over half of the declared area. Processors, packers and exporters in neighbouring markets therefore depend on a narrower base. One caution: the national series has a break around 2020, so very long comparisons show direction and scale rather than exact change.
Poland has lost most of its potato land in the past six decades. In 1961 Polish farmers harvested 45.2 million tonnes of potatoes at 16.0 t/ha, according to FAOSTAT data published by Our World in Data. In 2024 the harvest was 5.92 million tonnes at 30.2 t/ha. This means the potato area fell from about 2.82 million hectares to about 196,000 ha, a drop of 93%.
The decline came in steps. Production was 36.3 million tonnes in 1990, 24.2 million tonnes in 2000 and 8.4 million tonnes in 2010. In the same FAOSTAT table, Poland’s 1961 crop was larger than the crops of Germany (29.9 million tonnes) and France (14.3 million tonnes).
The latest official numbers
The Central Statistical Office (GUS) said on 18 December 2025 that the 2025 potato harvest reached about 7.0 million tonnes. This was 18.4% more than in 2024. The area was about 0.2 million hectares, up 9.2%, and the yield was 327 decitonnes per hectare, up 8.3%.
Jou lasemèn. Dezabòne ak yon sèl klike.
Eurostat data give the same picture: 214,190 ha and 7.01 million tonnes in 2025, with a yield of 32.7 t/ha. For 2026 Eurostat shows a smaller area of 184,510 ha, which is 13.9% less than in 2025. The Eurostat series also shows a sharp step between 2019 (308,190 ha) and 2020 (226,070 ha), so long comparisons need care.
Farm declarations point the same way. According to warzywa.pl, which cites the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARiMR), farmers declared 185,100 ha of potatoes for 2026, compared with a record 210,800 ha in 2025. The largest areas are in five voivodeships:
- Wielkopolskie: 28,300 ha
- Łódzkie: 22,200 ha
- Kujawsko-Pomorskie: 20,400 ha
- Mazowieckie: 18,300 ha
- Pomorskie: 16,200 ha
Together these five regions hold about 57% of the declared area.
Poukisa li enpòtan
Poland is no longer a country of small potato plots. It now grows potatoes on a much smaller area, with higher yields and a clear regional centre in the west and centre of the country. The 2025 crop was large, but the 2026 area is smaller again.
For traders and processors this means that Polish supply now depends on a few regions and on the weather in those regions. A 14% cut in area can move the market as much as a poor season. Buyers who plan contracts for 2026/27 should watch the next GUS estimates. In 2025 the final crop estimate came in December.
Photo: A potato field in Książnica, Poland (illustrative). fot. Slawek Ilski / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Rezime Mondyal sou Pòmdetè
Senk pi gwo istwa yo, pri yo, alèt maladi yo ak evènman yo. Maten jou lasemèn yo, pa gen piblisite.
Ki sa kap vini an
GUS will publish further estimates of the 2026 harvest; in 2025 its final crop estimate came on 18 December. Eurostat will add 2026 production and yield to its crop table.
Sous
- GUS — Wynikowy szacunek głównych ziemiopłodów rolnych i ogrodniczych w 2025 r. — https://stat.gov.pl/files/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5509/5/24/1/wynikowy_szacunek_glownych_ziemioplodow_rolnych_i_ogrodniczych_w_2025_r.pdf
- Eurostat — apro_cpsh1 (potatoes, PL) — https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/apro_cpsh1/default/table
- warzywa.pl (ARiMR data) — https://www.warzywa.pl/warzywa-polowe/rolnicy-zglosili-juz-ponad-185-tys-ha-ziemniakow-w-tych-wojewodztwach-uprawia-sie-ich-najwiecej-2683256
- Mond nou an nan Done / FAOSTAT — https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/potato-production
Lyen nan materyèl sa a
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- Polòy
Istwa ki gen rapò
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