Potato of the year

The potato plant

The Potato of the Year award in Germany has been given since 2006 by a committee made up of representatives from German environmental and consumer associations and agricultural organizations.

The purpose of the award is to highlight the diversity of potato varieties so that they can be preserved and promoted. The potato is part of the cultural and culinary heritage. One criterion for the choice is that the variety must have “achieved” something or have something extraordinary. This includes properties such as resistance to pests, characteristic taste or color or a particular cultivation value.

Six varieties are available for pre-selection every year. These are exclusively varieties that are more than 30 years old or that have been bred by farmers and can therefore be reproduced without fees.

history

On March 29, 2006, the jury, consisting of the Lüneburger Landgarten project at the open-air museum on the Kiekeberg , the Lower Saxony Organic Farming Competence Center , the Karsten Ellenberg organic farm, the Association for the Preservation of Crop Diversity and Slow Food Hamburg, voted the Blue Swede Potato of the Year for the first time . This potato was chosen because it exemplifies the variety of colors and shapes of the potato varieties and their preparation options.

On April 28, 2007, the jury expanded to include Bioland Germany , the working group for rural agriculture and the Association for the Conservation and Recultivation of Crop Plants in Brandenburg (VERN) voted potato Linda as Potato of the Year. With the choice of the potato a sign should be set for the further continuation of the cultivation of this potato.

In 2008 there was another change in the jury. The representatives of the Lüneburg Landgarten project and the Lower Saxony Organic Farming Competence Center were no longer involved. To this end, Misereor , the Thuringian Dumpling Museum and the Lower Saxony Ökoring supplemented the committee. The Bamberg croissant was chosen on April 28, 2008 . The potato is an example of an old, endangered variety. The purpose of the award is to promote the continued existence of the potato, which has been documented in Germany since 1819.

In 2009, instead of the Lower Saxony eco-ring, the Lower Saxony Organic Farming Competence Center was represented in the jury . On February 14th, 2009 the East German potato variety Adretta was chosen. The floury-boiling variety from the former GDR is still very popular today and has a wide range of uses and is regularly traded even after the plant variety protection has expired.

On February 10, 2010, the unchanged jury selected the Sieglinde potato variety as Potato of the Year 2010. The choice fell on the variety because it has been on the market in Germany as a table and seed potato for 75 years. This makes it the oldest potato variety that is still permitted.

In 2011, instead of the Thuringian Dumpling Museum, the jury was represented by the potato grower and trader Peter Glandien (Tartufflis exquisite potatoes). On January 22nd, 2011, Ora was announced as the potato of the year 2011. The variety, approved in the GDR in 1952, was chosen to set an example for the diversity of potatoes and against the dependence on the seed industry.

Misereor was no longer represented in the jury for 2012. The eight members (AbL, Bioland, Slow Food, VERN, VEN, Peter Glandien, Karsten Ellenberg, Competence Center for Organic Farming Lower Saxony ) selected the potato variety Bintje as Potato of the Year 2012. The variety, which was bred in the Netherlands in 1905, was named in the 1970 / 80s A variety known for making french fries and potato chips .

The nine members of the selection jury, in addition to the previous year, the open-air museum at Kiekeberg, chose the potato Rosa Tannenzapfen as the potato of the year 2013. This potato variety was chosen because of its intense taste and unusual shape.

In 2014, the nine members of the unchanged selection jury voted the Granola variety “Potato of the year 2014”. The variety already had many good characteristics in the approval year 1975 that growers and consumers still appreciate today. Granola is well adapted to the conditions of different locations and therefore suitable for many regions and climates and offers safe and high yields regardless of location and climate. The potato is medium early, predominantly waxy and has a beautiful yellow flesh color.

The ten-person decision-making body (supplemented by the initiator of the "Potato of the Year" Wilfried Stegmann) chose the Heideniere potato variety as Potato of the Year in 2015 because of its excellent taste. This variety, which was approved in the Federal Republic of Germany from 1953 to 1966, was preserved in gene banks in the GDR (in Gatersleben and Groß Lüsewitz). After the reunification, it was recultivated by the Association for the Conservation and Recultivation of Useful Plants (VERN). Since 2011 the Heideniere has been approved again as a conservation variety at the Federal Plant Variety Office.

In 2016, the unchanged selection committee selected the Nicola variety as Potato of the Year. The potato, which was included in the list of federal varieties in 1973, is considered an all-rounder in the kitchen.

In 2017 the committee chose Weinberger Schloßkipfler and announced the variety at the International Green Week in Berlin in the presence of Lower Saxony's Agriculture Minister Christian Meyer and the incumbent potato queen from the Lüneburg Heath.

In 2018, Stefan Zimmermann, museum director at the Kiekeberg open-air museum, succeeded his predecessor Prof. Rolf Wiese. In addition, Gerhard Wacha from the Jeebel organic gardening company was newly accepted into the committee, while Karsten Ellenberg left his work on hold. The committee chose the red fleshy red emmalia from organic breeding.

In 2019, variety Quarta was named Potato of the Year.

Potato of the year

year	Surname	Illustration
2006	Blue Swede
2007	Linda
2008	Bamberg croissant
2009	Adretta
2010	Sieglinde
2011	Ora
2012	Bintje
2013	Pink pine cones
2014	granola
2015	Pagan kidney
2016	Nicola
2017	Weinberger Schloßkipfler
2018	Red emmalia
2019	Quarta

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Consumer Protection and Regional Development May 2, 2006: Blauer Schwede - Potato of the year 2006
2. ↑ Press release Potato of the year 2007 (pdf; 337 kB)
3. ↑ Press release Potato of the Year 2008: Bamberger Hörnchen ( Memento of the original dated May 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Press release: Adretta is the potato of the year 2009  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (pdf; 40 kB)  
5. ↑ Sieglinde is the Potato of the Year 2010 ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Press release: Ora is the potato of the year 2011
7. ↑ Bintje wins the Potato of the Year award ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ "Pink Tannenzapfen" is "Potato of the Year 2013" ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ "Granola" is the potato of the year 2014
10. ↑ Potato of the year 2015: the Heideniere
11. ↑ Potato of the year 2016: Nicola (pdf)
12. ↑ "Quarta" is potato of the year. Retrieved July 26, 2019 .