Automatic translation:
Try to imagine a quantity of four million kilograms of potatoes. Four million kilograms - that's 4000 tons, the weight of 800 adult elephants, stacked as high as the Berlin TV Tower. It's a lot that could fill hundreds of thousands of people.
These potatoes are stored in the halls of a farm south of Leipzig, neatly sorted, cool and dry, best food quality. And they have a problem: no one wants them.
The story of these potatoes is a story about the absurdities of our food system. A trader had ordered the harvest, but when the potatoes were harvested and stored, it was clear: the supply on the market is greater than the demand. The market price had fallen, the offer too big. What is no longer profitable for trade becomes a burden for the producer. Financially, everything was settled, but the potatoes remained.
Shortly before Christmas, I received an email from Ecosia, a search engine we had just reported on. Ecosia is the Berlin company that plants trees with its advertising revenue – over 200 million worldwide. Chief Financial Officer Wolfgang Oels wrote that there is contact with a farm south of Leipzig that has to destroy 4000 tons of potatoes. "Do we, as Berliner Morgenpost and Ecosia, want to make this a joint action?"
We can. We want. And we need your help.
The largest potato rescue in the city
The plan is simple: Ecosia finances the transport from Saxony to Berlin. The Berliner Morgenpost helps to organize the free distribution.
We are looking for distribution points throughout the city: parishes, schools, sports clubs, neighborhood initiatives, social institutions or private individuals. Each collection point receives one ton of potatoes, free of charge, to distribute to all who can use them (Agria variety, firm cooking!). They can help distribute - and show together with us what is possible if we treat food for what they are: valuable.
