With no fries sold, Dutch farmers face billion kilo potato pile

It's potato planting season, but many Dutch farmers are facing a mountain of a problem, with a million tons of potatoes left over from last season due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Restaurants in the Netherlands, many serving popular deep fried "patat", have been closed since mid-March, with a ban on public gatherings set to last until June 1 at least. . With their closure, the market for potatoes collapsed overnight. "This is a dramatic season, a turn of events no one could have predicted," said Dirk de Heer from his farm in Beemster, in North Holland.

De Heer says he is selling his crop to a dairy farmer for 0.01 euro per kilogram, instead of the 18 cents he had hoped to receive. De Heer is one of around a thousand farmers in the Netherlands in the same situation.

Food potato production in the Netherlands is roughly 4 million tons annually, of which a quarter is exported. The country's agricultural organization LTO estimates damages from the virus outbreak so far at 6 billion euros, with the floral industry also hard-hit.