In 2009 the potato production in France covered an area of 164,000 hectares and produced 7.2 million tonnes, making it the world's tenth largest potato producer. The average yield was 43.8 tonnes per hectare. Potatoes account for a modest 0.9% of arable land[1] in France (including French overseas departments), compared with 51.5% for cereals and 2% for industrial beet. Some 25,000 farmers are involved.
Since 1960 French potato production has fallen sharply, when it reached an all-time high of 14 million tonnes. At the same time, average yields have almost tripled.
This trend in production reflects that of consumption, which has declined in parallel, notably due to the potato's poor nutritional image. The consumption, estimated in 2007 at 65 kg per inhabitant per year,[2] has also evolved, with fresh potatoes now accounting for only two-thirds of average consumption, the remainder being used in processed products, in particular frozenFrench fries, consumption of which has grown largely with the expansion of fast-food chains.
In the European Union, France, with 11% of the Community total, is the fourth largest potato producer behind Germany (10.7 Mt) and Poland (10.5 Mt), at roughly the same level as the Netherlands, and ahead of the United Kingdom. It is also Europe's third-largest exporter, behind the Netherlands and Germany, with 3 Mt, three-quarters of which are fresh potatoes[3] exported mainly to Spain, Italy, Portugal and Belgium. Imports total 1.6 Mt, three-quarters of which are processed products.
The potato, first discovered among the Incas in present-day Peru by the Spanish conquistadors around 1537, probably arrived in France towards the end of the 16th century. The first mention of its cultivation in France comes from the agronomist Olivier de Serres in his Théâtre d'Agriculture et mesnage des champs, which describes its cultivation and gives it as originating in Switzerland[4]:
This shrub," says Cartoufle, "bears fruit of the same name, similar to truffles, & by some so called. It came from Switzerland to Dauphiné a short time ago.
The Swiss naturalist Gaspard Bauhin, in his Pinax theatri botanici published in 1623, mentions that the potato was cultivated in Burgundy.[5]
While it had spread to Ireland, Flanders and Germany, for over two centuries the potato was used in much of France only for cattle feed.
In 1757, the potato was cultivated in Brittany, which was experiencing a famine. First in the Rennes region by Louis-René de Caradeuc de La Chalotais, soon followed in the Léon region by monseigneur de la Marche, nicknamed "l'évêque des patates" (eskob ar patatez). Jean-François Mustel, an agronomist from Rouen (author of a Mémoire sur les pommes de terre et sur le pain économique), encouraged potato cultivation in Normandy: in 1766, potatoes were grown in Alençon, Lisieux and the bay of Mont Saint-Michel.[6]
In 1768, a certain Dottin, postmaster at Villers-Bretonneux, sent M. Dupleix, intendant of Picardie, an eight-page memoir on the cultivation and use of potatoes, a document preserved by the Archives départementales de la Somme. These trials were probably one of the factors that prompted Parmentier to launch his campaign in favor of potatoes.[7]
Portrait of Parmentier.
It was above all Antoine Parmentier who, on his return from captivity in Prussia, promoted the potato for human consumption and succeeded in developing its use in all strata of French society. Taken prisoner by the Prussians during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), he had discovered the potato, the main food supplied to prisoners. Following a terrible food shortage in 1769, the Besançon academy launched a competition in 1771 on the following theme: "Indicate the plants that could replace those commonly used for human consumption in the event of a shortage, and how they should be prepared. Parmentier won first prize, ahead of other competitors who had also written a thesis on the potato, proof that its use was really on the agenda.
More than a century before Parmentier, thanks to Jean Bauhin (1541-1612), brother of Gaspard Bauhin and director of the "Grands-Jardin" in Montbéliard, the potato was used to alleviate the famine in the independent Comté de Montbéliard, which became French in 1793. That very year, "potatoes were considered so indispensable that a Commune decree dated 21 Ventôse ordered a census of luxury gardens to devote them to the cultivation of this vegetable; as a result, the grand allée of the Tuileries garden and the flower beds were cultivated with potatoes, which for a long time gave them the nickname of royal oranges, in memory of the restoration that had made them so useful".[8]
Subsequently, Parmentier succeeded in obtaining the support of the authorities to encourage the population to eat potatoes. In particular, he used a famous stratagem: he had a (light) guard posted around a potato field, giving local residents the impression that potatoes were a rare and expensive crop, destined only for the nobility. Some stole them, cooked them and enjoyed them. King Louis XVI congratulated him, saying: "One day, France will thank you for having invented bread for the poor". Their use in popular cuisine grew rapidly.
At the end of the 18th century, 45 km2 of France were devoted to potato cultivation. A century later, in 1892, this area had increased to 14,500 km2. Shortly before the French Revolution, the agronomist Jean Chanorier developed this crop on his land in Croissy-sur-Seine.
In France, on 25 Nivôse An II (January 13, 1794), the Convention, faced with insufficient wheat requisitions and riots, passed the law on potato cultivation,[9] which called for the widespread cultivation of potatoes throughout the country. Article 1 of this law stipulates that:
"The constituted authorities are required to use all means in their power in communes where potato cultivation has not yet been established, to encourage all farmers in these communes to plant a portion of their land with potatoes, according to their ability.
Production trends and structure
Trends in French potato production from 1961 to 2009.
French potato production has declined significantly over the last few decades. According to statistics published by the FAO, it fell from 14.3 million tonnes in 1961 to 7.16 Mt in 2009, practically halving. In fact, after reaching an all-time low of 4.33 Mt in 1976 (a year of severe summer drought during which the average yield was 15.3 t/ha, returning to its 1962 level), then 4.75 Mt in 1990 (two years of drought in 1990 and 1991 caused the average yield to fall), it has recovered slightly and stabilized since the early 1990s. Over the same period, the area sown to the crop fell by a factor of 5.4, from 890,000 to 164,000 hectares, while average yield increased by a factor of 2.7, from 16.1 to 43.8 tonnes per hectare.
This sharp increase in yield is due to a number of factors: new, more productive varieties, better-quality plants (elimination of viruses which considerably weakened production), better control of agronomic techniques (soil preparation, chemical weeding, development of irrigation, etc.), reduced storage losses (refrigeration, anti-sprouting treatments, etc.). It can also be partly explained by the concentration of production in the most fertile and favorable regions for this crop (Nord, Picardie, Champagne).
Geographical distribution of production
Geographical distribution of total potato production in 2009.
French potato production is heavily concentrated in the northern part of the country (Nord and Paris Basin), where most of the processing industry is also located. In 2009, the top three producing departments were Somme (1.5 Mt), Nord (1.2 Mt) and Pas-de-Calais (0.95 Mt), accounting for 51% of the national total. Seedling production is mainly located in coastal regions, in Brittany (Finistère) and Pas-de-Calais, while early fruit production is spread along the coast, from Pas-de-Calais to Landes via Finistère and Charente-Maritime, in the Centre region, as well as in southern regions (Pyrénées-Orientales).
Varieties and geographical indications
Variety
Ratte tubers.
Many potato varieties are grown in France. Around 200 varieties (compared with several thousand worldwide) are listed in the official catalog of plant species and varieties grown in France,[10] but other varieties belonging to the Community catalog are also grown, as well as a few traditional varieties.
The official French catalog is managed by the Comité Technique Permanent de la Sélection (CTPS) and lists varieties that have passed the DUS (Distinction, Homogeneity, Stability) and VATE (Valeur Agronomique Technologique et Environnementale) tests, which are a prerequisite for marketing authorization, for lists A[11] and B.[12]
In 2009, the main varieties[13] multiplied for the production of certified seedlings were the following: Spunta, Bintje, Charlotte, Agata, Kaptah Vandel, Monalisa, Amyla, Atlas, Kardal, Caesar, Amandine and Safrane.[14]
Among the traditional varieties, some have come back into fashion in recent years, such as 'Ratte', 'Bonnotte de Noirmoutier' and 'Vitelotte'. Since the decree of June 18, 2012, six old varieties: 'Bleue d'Auvergne', 'Bonnotte de Noirmoutier', 'Early Rose', 'Fleur de pêcher', 'Rouge de Flandre' and 'Vitelotte noire', as well as 'Catarina' created in 1966, have been registered in the Official Catalogue as "conservation varieties" (list C)[15] for a period of ten years. Their maintenance is ensured by the FNPPPT, the national federation of seed potato producers.
The potato industry comprises two sub-sectors: the extraction of potato starch and other products, and the production of processed food products in dehydrated, frozen or appetized form.
Starch
Starch production in France has declined sharply since the 1950s and has become more concentrated. There are now just two plants, at Vecquemont in the Somme and Haussimont in the Marne, compared with 59 in 1952. The former belongs to the Roquette group, which specializes in starch extraction and also processes other sources such as corn, wheat and protein peas, while the latter was sold by the Dutch Avebe group, which wished to cease operations, to the Sphère company, associated with a group of producers, which is focusing on the production of biodegradable plastics.
Starch production is regulated at European level within the framework of the common organization of the starch market, which has set production quotas for each country. France has a starch quota of 265,354 tonnes, or 13.6% of the EU total.[17] This quota is allocated by the French authorities as follows between the two starch plants: 63,258.85 tons for the Haussimont plant and 202,095.15 tons for the Vecquemont plant. Actual production is estimated at 252,000 tonnes for the 2009/2010 campaign, for a volume of potatoes delivered of 1.037 million tonnes.[18]
Processed products
The potato processing industry is located mainly in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Picardie and Champagne-Ardenne regions. In the 2008/2009 season, it processed 1.07 million tonnes of potatoes, producing 533,174 tonnes of finished products, including 420,452 tonnes (79%) of frozen products. It is mainly operated by foreign groups, such as Farm Frites (Netherlands), Intersnack (Germany) and above all McCain Foods (Canada), which produces three quarters of processed potato products in France.
This production is insufficient to satisfy domestic demand, and France imports over 600,000 tons of processed products, three-quarters of them frozen, mainly from Belgium and the Netherlands.
Main companies involved in potato processing in France:
McCain Foods, French fries and other frozen fillings, flakes and dehydrated purée, three plants located in Béthune and Harnes (Pas-de-Calais), and in Matougues (Marne). Harnes is the Canadian group's first site in France, and the headquarters of its French subsidiary. Béthune, a former Beaumarais plant acquired in 1986, also produces dehydrated products. Matougues, commissioned in 2001, is the world's largest production unit for frozen French fries, capable of producing 25 tonnes per hour.[19]
Farm Frites, frozen French fries, Dutch group based in Montigny-le-Roi (Haute-Marne) since the purchase of the Lesudeba plant from the Unilever group in 1996.
Altho, chips (Brets brand), plant at Saint-Gérand (Morbihan).
Sibell, potato chips, La Ciotat (Bouches-du-Rhône).
Lunor, vacuum-packed potatoes and other cooked vegetables (5th range), cooperative group, three plants in Luneray (Seine-Maritime), Plancy-l'Abbaye (Aube).
Ghisetti 1870 France, vacuum-packed potatoes and other cooked vegetables (5th range), Italian group, plant at Le Chêne (Aube).
The Flodor potato chip factory in Péronne (Somme) was liquidated in 2005 by the Italian group Unichips, which had bought it in 1990. This group continues to market products under the "Flodor" brand.
Terr'Loire in Chécy (Loiret), vacuum-packed potatoes and other vegetables (5th range), was taken over in 2009 by the Agralys group.[20]
Professional organizations and institutions
Potato growers are grouped within the Union nationale des producteurs de pommes de terre (UNPT), which was formed in 2002 from the merger of two pre-existing organizations: fédération nationale des producteurs de pommes de terre industrielles (FNPTI) and fédération nationale des pommes de terre de consommation (FNPTC).[21]
In the processing sector, all the professional organizations in the potato industry are united in the Groupement interprofessionnel pour la valorisation de la pomme de terre (GIPT). This brings together the professional unions of producers and the two industrial branches (starch and processed products):
The National Union of Potato Producers (UNPT),
The National Federation of Potato Processors (FNTPT),
The National Professional Chamber of Potato Starch Producers (CSF)[22]
In the French ware potato sector, the Comité national interprofessionnel de la pomme de terre (CNIPT) brings together the professional organizations of the various stakeholder groups: producers, cooperatives, distributors, brokers and retailers:
Union nationale des producteurs de pommes de terre (UNPT),
Fédération française de la coopération fruitière légumière et horticole (FELCOOP),
Fédération française des syndicats de négociants en pommes de terre et légumes en gros (FEDEPOM)),
Syndicat national des courtiers en pommes de terre et fruits et légumes (SNCPT),
Fédération du Commerce et de la Distribution (FCD),
Union nationale des syndicats de détaillants en fruits et légumes (UNFD)[23]
The Fédération nationale des producteurs de semences de pommes de terre (FN3PT) brings together all those involved in the breeding and production of certified seed potatoes. These growers and grower unions are organized into three "Établissements producteurs régionaux" (EPR): Bretagne-Plants, Comité Nord and Grocep (Groupement du Centre des producteurs de plants de pomme de terre). "France Obtention" is an organization created by the FN3PT to develop institutional or professional partnerships abroad (mainly in North Africa and the Middle East) to promote French seed potatoes.[24]
The Association des créateurs de variétés nouvelles de pomme de terre (ACVNPT) brings together the four French breeders: Bretagne Plants, Grocep and Comité Nord, as well as Germicopa, a private seed company based in Brittany and specialized in potatoes (research station at Châteauneuf-du-Faou, Finistère).
Consumption evolution
The potato is the most widely consumed vegetable in France, but its consumption has been falling steadily for many years. Average annual consumption was 152.7 kg per capita in 1950, 95.6 kg in 1970, 68.5 kg in 2008,38 and 50 kg in 2016, of which around 20 to 25 kg was fresh (purchases, garden production, catering).
Within this total, the share of processed products, which are developing especially in out-of-home consumption (fast food, company restaurants), is tending to increase at the expense of fresh potatoes. These figures are slightly underestimated, as they do not take into account self-consumption by farmers and individuals with home gardens, estimated at between 400,000 and 500,000 tonnes per year.
Analyses carried out in the 1999-2001 period as part of the monitoring plan for residues of phytosanitary products on potatoes showed that 92.3% of cases (out of 1,417 analyses involving 340 samples) were below the analytical limits of quantification (LOQ) and 99.3% below the maximum residue limits (MRL). Analyses exceeding the MRL (ten cases, or 0.7% of the total) concerned the following active substances: dimetomorph (1 case), dithiocarbamates (4), oxadixyl (4) and aclonifen (1). Among these substances, oxadixyl is a fungicide withdrawn from the market at the end of 2003.
In France, the marketing of early and ware potatoes for fresh sale is subject to the decree of March 3, 1997, which imposes a certain number of rules. Potatoes must belong to varieties registered in the official French catalog of varieties or in the common Community catalog (excluding starch varieties, considered unfit for consumption). The nature of the potatoes must be indicated (early or new potatoes, consumption or firm-fleshed consumption), as well as the name of the variety, as these elements can justify significant price variations. The decree sets minimum sizes (17 mm for "grenaille", 28 mm for early potatoes and 35 mm for ware potatoes).[25] It also establishes two quality classes, I and II, for which it specifies acceptable defect limits
Gastronomy
Steak frites are one of the symbols of French culinary identity.Hachis parmentierPommes de terre en robe des champs et fromage blanc.Tartiflette.
A few French specialities made with potatoes or with potatoes as the usual accompaniment:
French fries, chips, finger chips, french-fried potatoes, or simply fries are batonnet or allumette-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium or France. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and frying them, usually in a deep fryer. Pre-cut, blanched, and frozen russet potatoes are widely used, and sometimes baked in a regular or convection oven; air fryers are small convection ovens marketed for frying potatoes.
The potato is a starchy root vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Belgian cuisine is widely varied among regions, while also reflecting the cuisines of neighbouring France, Germany and the Netherlands. It is sometimes said that Belgian food is served in the quantity of German cuisine but with the quality of French food. Outside the country, Belgium is best known for its chocolate, waffles, fries and beer.
Mashed potato or mashed potatoes, colloquially known as mash, is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a side dish to meat or vegetables. Roughly mashed potatoes are sometimes called smashed potatoes. Dehydrated instant mashed potatoes and frozen mashed potatoes are available. Mashed potatoes are an ingredient in other dishes, such as dumplings and gnocchi.
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier was a French pharmacist and agronomist, best remembered as a vocal promoter of the potato as a food source for humans in France and throughout Europe. His many other contributions to nutrition and health included establishing the first mandatory smallpox vaccination campaign and pioneering the extraction of sugar from sugar beets. Parmentier also founded a school of breadmaking and studied methods of conserving food, including refrigeration.
Gratin is a culinary technique in which an ingredient is topped with a browned crust, often using breadcrumbs, grated cheese, egg or butter. The term may be applied to any dish made using this method. Gratin is usually prepared in a shallow dish of some kind. A gratin is baked or cooked under an overhead grill or broiler to form a golden crust on top and is often served in its baking dish.
Gratin dauphinois is a French gratin of sliced raw potatoes baked in cream, from the Dauphiné region in south-eastern France. There are many variants of the name of the dish, including pommes de terre dauphinoise, potatoes à la dauphinoise and gratin de pommes à la dauphinoise. It is distinguished from ordinary gratin potatoes by the use of raw rather than boiled potatoes. It is a quite different dish from pommes dauphine.
'Vitelotte', also called Vitelotte noire, Négresse or Truffe de Chine, is a gourmet French variety of blue-violet potato. It has been cultivated in France at least since the early nineteenth century.
Lyonnaise potatoes – in French pommes de terre sautées à la lyonnaise – are potatoes, boiled and then sliced and shallow-fried, served together with fried onions.
Pommes Frites is a New York City restaurant which specializes in Belgian-style fries. The restaurant was located in the East Village at 123 2nd Avenue, but relocated to 128 MacDougal Street after the original building was destroyed in a 2015 natural gas explosion.
Quebec cider is crafted in the apple-producing regions of Montérégie, Eastern Townships, Chaudière-Appalaches, the Laurentides, Charlevoix and Capitale-Nationale, in Canada. The revival of cider is a relatively new phenomenon, since Quebec's alcohol regulating body, the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux began issuing permits to produce craft cider only in 1988. In 2008, some 40 cider makers were producing more than 100 apple-based alcoholic beverages.
Potato starch is starch extracted from potatoes. The cells of the root tubers of the potato plant contain leucoplasts. To extract the starch, the potatoes are crushed, and the starch grains are released from the destroyed cells. The starch is then left to settle out of solution or separated by hydrocyclones, then dried to powder.
Moules-frites or moules et frites is a main dish of mussels and French fries originating in Northern France and Belgium. The title of the dish is French, moules meaning mussels and frites fries, with the Dutch name for the dish meaning the same. It is considered the national dish of Belgium.
Acadian cuisine comprises the traditional dishes of the Acadian people. It is primarily seen in the present-day cultural region of Acadia.Note 1 Acadian cuisine has been influenced by the Deportation of the Acadians, proximity to the ocean, the Canadian winter, bad soil fertility, the cuisine of Quebec, American cuisine, and English cuisine, among other factors.
The potato was the first domesticated vegetable in the region of modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia between 8000 and 5000 BC. Cultivation of potatoes in South America may go back 10,000 years, but tubers do not preserve well in the archaeological record, making identification difficult. The earliest archaeologically verified potato tuber remains have been found at the coastal site of Ancón, dating to 2500 BC. Aside from actual remains, the potato is also found in the Peruvian archaeological record as a design influence of ceramic pottery, often in the shape of vessels. The potato has since spread around the world and has become a staple crop in most countries.
Maluns are a traditional dish of the Grisons, essentially made of potatoes.
The potato is a starchy tuber that has been grown and eaten for more than 8,000 years. In the 16th century, Spanish explorers in the Americas found Peruvians cultivating potatoes and introduced them to Europe. The potato, an easily grown source of carbohydrates, proteins and vitamin C, spread to many other areas and became a staple food of many cultures. In the 20th century potatoes are eaten on all continents; the method of preparation, however, can modify its nutritional value.
References
↑ The arable area is equal to the usable agricultural area (UAA) minus areas still under grass (permanent grassland) and perennial crops (vines, orchards).
↑ source FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database).
↑ The figure also includes processed products, expressed in fresh potato equivalent.
↑ It must be harvested young (which gives it a slightly sweet flesh) and preferably belong to a variety with firm, melting flesh. It is often eaten pan-fried with garlic and herbs.
Bibliography
Rousselle, Patrick; Robert, Yvon; Crosnier, Jean-Claude (1996). et , La pomme de terre: Production, amélioration, ennemis et maladies, utilisations. Paris: INRA éditions - ITPT - ITCF. ISBN2-7380-0676-0.
Bourget, Dorothée (1998). Le grand livre des variétés de pommes de terre. Paris. ISBN2-9513185-0-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Variétés de pommes de terre produites en France: Catalogue 2008. Paris: Lavoisier. 2008. ISBN978-2-7562-0286-0.
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