One ton of potatoes fits into the Big Pack, which is located on Pallasstrasse in front of the Schöneberg Nord district coordination store. Women of all ages surround the white plastic bag, many wearing headscarves and long coats. They dig through the sandy brown potatoes with both hands and stuff them into the shopping bags and bags they brought with them. Small and medium-sized potatoes are particularly popular. “Three or four kilos per person,” warns a district mother from the district office who is accompanying the distribution campaign. For mothers where she knows that there are large families to feed, she allows larger quantities to pass through.
The potatoes arrived in Berlin on Thursday morning. This is the first part of a delivery. In total there are 4,000 tonswhich the Saxon agricultural company Osterland Agrar, located near Leipzig, is currently giving to the population free of charge. Initiatives, social projects and kindergartens could apply for delivery. The condition was to lose at least one ton. The lion’s share goes to Berlin. The action was accompanied by the Berlin morning post and the eco search engine Ecosia.
1,300 Berlin projects had already applied for the potatoes on the website when Tina Waleschkowski, head of the Schöneberg North district office, threw her hat into the ring. Walschkowski tells taz that they were extremely happy to be among the first to receive deliveries on Thursday. The district mothers informed the neighborhood around the Pallasseum via Instagram and WhatsApp.
That’s his name Residential complex on Pallasstrassein which there are 500 apartments but probably more than 2,000 people live. Many families have low incomes and many have a Turkish or Arabic background. The last monitoring from 2024 shows that the neighborhood in Germany is the one with the highest child poverty, says Walschkowski.
The Saxon Osterland Agrar actually wanted to supply a chip factory with the potatoes. She had already paid before the season, but refused to accept it. It was not only in Germany that the 2025 harvest was much larger than in previous years. In addition, the area under potato cultivation had expanded last year. Done in the hope of being able to supply others in Europe like that Spiegel with reference to agricultural experts writes. But the potato harvest was very good everywhere in Europe. Conclusion: There are too many potatoes.
There is also criticism of Osterland Agrar’s gift campaign. The market is being flooded with free goods that are harming regional producers.
Blackboard continues to distribute
The Berliner Tafel was also delivered first thing in the morning on Thursday. The truck coming from Saxony unloaded 22 tons in big packs at the logistics center on Beusselstrasse. The distribution of the potatoes in box form has already begun. 400 social institutions from retirement homes to women’s shelters would be supplied, says Sabine Werth, founder of the Tafel and honorary chairwoman. There are also the 48 Laib und Seele delivery points and seven pop-up distribution points. There the potatoes are passed on in bags.
That it too Critics of the gift campaign Werth is not surprised. The food bank also often has to justify the distribution of food that would otherwise spoil and have to be destroyed. The criticism: that this doesn’t change people’s poverty situation.
The Big Pack on Pallasstrasse is already half empty at 12 noon. An old woman carries the full jute bag on her walker, another on the shelf under the stroller.
Potatoes in special shapes that look like a heart or elves are sorted out of the Big Pack at Tina Walschkowski’s request. She wants to take photos of it. “Look, it looks like a sloth,” she says, pointing to one of the potatoes lying on her desk in the neighborhood store.
She promised her eight-year-old son that he could take part in the distribution campaign that afternoon, says Walschkowski. But now she is no longer sure that the supply will last until then. She didn’t expect such word of mouth. “But what’s gone is gone,” she says happily.