Denmark: Starch Potato Trial Digs Show 61.4 t/ha, Starch Yield 6.3% Below 2025
The third trial dig of the season in Danish starch potato fields points to a solid crop. Tuber yield is above the ten-year average, but starch content and starch yield are lower than in 2025.
Danish starch potato fields yielded an average of 614 hkg per hectare at the third trial dig of 2026. This equals 61.4 tonnes per hectare. The dig took place on 14 and 15 September, according to the grower advisory service KMC Agro.
The starch content averaged 20.5%. The starch yield reached 125.7 hkg per hectare, or about 12.6 tonnes. The results cover the supply areas of two starch factories: AKD and AKK. Their own news pages confirmed on 15 September that the third dig had been completed.
Results by factory area
- AKD area: 576 hkg/ha of tubers, 20.3% starch, 116.5 hkg/ha of starch.
- AKK area: 669 hkg/ha of tubers, 21.0% starch, 139.2 hkg/ha of starch.
The gap between the two areas is large. Fields in the AKK area gave about 16% more tubers than fields in the AKD area.
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Comparison with earlier years
At the same dig in 2025, growers recorded 631 hkg/ha, 21.3% starch and 134.2 hkg/ha of starch. In 2024 the figures were 583 hkg/ha, 21.2% and 123.8 hkg/ha. The 2015–2025 average is 584 hkg/ha, 20.2% starch and 117.5 hkg/ha of starch.
So the 2026 tuber yield is about 2.7% below last year. It is about 5% above the ten-year average. Starch yield is 6.3% below 2025, but about 7% above the long-term average. Lower starch content explains most of the gap with last year.
Variety results also differ. The highest tuber yield came from one variety with 724 hkg/ha but only 18.8% starch: Kuras. The highest starch content, 21.8%, came from another variety: Ydun. The lowest starch yield among the main varieties was 103.3 hkg/ha: Verdi.
The advisory service also issued its last late blight warning of the season on 21 September. This marks the end of the spray-warning period for 2026.
Why it matters
Denmark is one of the main producers of potato starch in the European Union. Most of the rest of north-west Europe had a hot and dry summer, with sharp yield losses in ware and processing potatoes. The Danish starch crop, in contrast, looks close to normal. This supports stable deliveries to the starch factories this autumn.
Starch factories pay growers mainly for starch, not for tubers. For growers, the 0.8-point fall in starch content against 2025 matters more than the small change in tuber weight. Final factory intake data will show whether the trend holds until the end of the campaign.
Photo: Potato fields (illustrative). Flemming Munch / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
