The cheapest potatoes are so-called from the yard, compared to the store, the price can differ by dozens of crowns

“I don’t buy potatoes in the store because we have a riding school. I know that Adel are the best potatoes here in Vysočina and everyone goes after them like dogs,” says Mrs. Věra from Nová Cerekva.

For example, farmer Josef from Pelhřimovsko offers so-called potatoes from the yard. “This is the Laura variety, red skin and deep yellow flesh. They are not taken over, they are purely bagged from the harvester, because we can’t keep up,” he shows this year’s harvest. He even offers his clients the storage of potatoes in his own cellar. However, due to the current harvest, he had to raise the price.

“Mostly we sold for 8 crowns, now for 10. This year, because it is such an exceptional year and there were no potatoes, the yields were slowly a quarter lower, so there are no potatoes. So we sell for 12 crowns,” he adds. He offers the crop only to his regular customers, of whom there are approximately fifty.

According to a survey by Czech Radio, large retail chains currently offer a kilo of potatoes for more than 20 crowns, which is also confirmed by the chairman of the Czech Potato Association, Josef Králíček. “Chains have events, and they have them every week, the normal price outside events is 25 kroner and more,” he calculates. The high price of potatoes in stores is maintained despite the fact that, according to him, the cost for growers is several times lower and hovers around five crowns per kilogram of potatoes.

But prices on the domestic market are not determined by domestic growers. It is a price that is usual on a European scale.