France: Growers Ask Supermarkets to Sell Smaller Fries After Drought Shrinks Tubers
French potato growers are asking supermarkets to accept smaller spuds for fries after summer drought and a relaxed 45mm minimum size standard following a sharply reduced harvest.
France’s potato growers are asking the country’s supermarkets to stock smaller spuds for fries after a summer of drought left tubers undersized. The industry has relaxed its marketing standard, cutting the minimum diameter for potatoes sold for fries from 50 mm to 45 mm — but some supermarket chains are reluctant to put the smaller potatoes on the shelf, The Telegraph reported on October 14.
“The bigger the potato, the longer the chip, but they’ll still be good,” Luc Chatelain, president of the French potato interprofession, told the regional daily Action agricole Picarde. “There’s plenty of potential for making great chips this year.”
Five heatwaves and prolonged drought kept potatoes from reaching their usual size this summer, leaving farmers with smaller tubers and lower yields. According to the agriculture ministry’s latest forecasts, published on October 13, production of potatoes suitable for storage is expected to fall 23 per cent from last year’s record harvest. France produced about 8.6 million tonnes of storage potatoes in 2025, flooding the market and pushing down prices; growers cut their planted area by almost 10 per cent this year, only to see extreme weather hit the smaller crop.
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Hauts-de-France, the northern growing heartland, accounts for around 61 per cent of the country’s potato area.
Under the relaxed rules, potatoes of 45 mm diameter may be sold for fries provided larger specimens are also included in the pack. Requirements on sugar content, dry matter and cooking performance remain unchanged. Industry representatives insist smaller potatoes still deliver the taste, texture and golden colour buyers expect.
Retailers have been preparing shoppers for smaller produce for months. Dominique Schelcher, chief executive of the Coopérative U supermarket group, told Le Parisien in August that fruit and vegetables were “arriving in much smaller sizes” and that prices had risen 13 per cent. “We must expect chips to be much smaller,” he said, asking consumers to buy the less attractive produce anyway to support French farmers.
The episode marks a sharp reversal for an industry that was battling a glut only months ago — and a test of how far French retailers will bend their size standards to move a drought-hit crop.
Source: The Telegraph, October 14, 2026 · Le Monde · Action agricole Picarde · Le Parisien. Read the full story here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/10/14/french-potato-farmers-beg-supermarkets-accept-smaller-chips/
