If you walk into a grocery store in Belarus this spring, you might see something missing. Potatoes—the unassuming, everyday food that shows up at nearly every meal—aren’t as easy to find as they used to be. For a country with deep potato traditions, it’s a big deal. But Belarus isn’t alone. Around the world, spuds are in short supply, and it all comes down to a tangle of weather, economics, and sometimes unpredictable global events.
Potatoes: More Important Than They Get Credit For
Let’s step back for a second. It’s not just a side dish. Potatoes feed billions of people every day. They’re cheap, filling, and flexible, whether you’re making fries, dumplings, chips, or mash. Over history, though, they’ve also been at the center of real trouble when harvests fail. Most people have heard of the Irish Potato Famine, but other countries have had their own tough years, too. In 2025, that story is playing out again, just with a modern twist.
Belarus Faces a Potato Crunch
Right now, Belarus is seeing one of its worst potato shortages in years. People are frustrated, not just because they can’t get enough, but also because what they find is expensive and, frankly, not great. Between January and March, prices jumped 10%. Now, a kilo costs as much as 5 rubles, or about €1.36. That’s no small change for shoppers, especially when the potatoes are smaller and battered.
Some blame has landed squarely on the government’s shoulders. President Alexander Lukashenko recently told the public that a big reason for empty shelves is the huge amount of potatoes being sent to Russia. That’s new—it shows how complicated the market is, especially when neighboring countries get involved.
Many farmers say something else: strict price controls have made it tough for them to cover costs. Fertilizers and seeds just aren’t getting any cheaper. Farmers want higher prices so they can plant more and keep their businesses going. Right now, with state price limits, that economics isn’t working in their favor.
Why Are Potatoes Running Short?
The answer’s not as simple as just one bad season. There’s a collection of things, each chipping away at the world’s supply.
Hot, Dry Weather in the U.S. The U.S. saw one of its weakest potato harvests in years last season. That hit Idaho especially hard. If you’re not familiar, Idaho is basically America’s potato basket. Last year’s scorching summer, combined with little rain and even smoke from wildfires, led to yields that were down 25 to 30%. The potatoes that did grow weren’t as big or as easy to sell. For manufacturers—think chips and frozen fries—it made things tricky.
Water Shortages in the West Water is always an issue for farmers, but it’s become critical out west, especially in California and Oregon’s Klamath Basin. When there isn’t enough water, potatoes are one of the first crops to feel it. At the same time, too much water at the wrong time can ruin a harvest, too. It’s a fragile balance.
War in Ukraine Interrupts a Major Producer Then there’s the war in Ukraine. Before the conflict, Ukraine was one of the top potato producers in the world. Now, ongoing fighting has left some fields littered with unexploded bombs, plus there’s a lack of farm workers. For a while, moving potatoes—or even paying for them—became a challenge. The country’s export numbers have dropped, driving up prices in places that relied on Ukrainian crops.
Economic Pressures and Policy Problems Back in Belarus, price controls might have sounded good for shoppers. But farmers say the math just doesn’t work. If potatoes cost more to grow than they bring in at market, fewer fields get planted. It’s not hard to see why their supply is down.
Supply Chain Kinks Finally, it all comes down to timing. Potatoes don’t last forever in storage. If last year’s harvest runs out before the next round is ready, shelves go empty. It’s what happened in the U.S. this past year—warehouses emptied out early, and the new crop wasn’t quite there yet.
The Bigger Problems Facing Potatoes Everywhere
None of this is happening in a vacuum. Climate change is making everything less predictable—hotter summers, wilder storms, more fires. Soil quality is dropping in places that have relied on heavy fertilizers for decades. All this adds up to more bad years than good for a crop that billions lean on.
U.S. potato production numbers tell the story. In 2021, farmers grew 7% fewer potatoes than the average for the five years before that. That’s a big hit, and that shortfall sticks around the supply chain for years. Less wiggle room means that one bad season now has a bigger impact than you might have expected in the past.
Technology and science keep pushing forward, which helps. We now have potato varieties that are less likely to get sick from common diseases or bugs. Still, everything from weather to wars keeps finding new ways to trip up farmers and suppliers.
Common Questions: Can’t We Just Grow More?
It’s a fair question—if demand is steady or rising, can’t we solve this just by planting more? Turns out, it’s not so simple. Even in countries where farmland is available, farmers need incentives. If the economics don’t make sense—either because of price controls or high production costs—fields might get shifted to more profitable crops.
Water is an increasingly tough resource to control. Droughts in the American West or sudden floods in Europe can wipe out investments overnight. In Ukraine, farmers worry about safety and the availability of labor, more than about seeds or soil quality.
Then, storage is huge. Even after harvest, potatoes can spoil, especially when energy prices rise and proper storage gets expensive. All throughout the chain, from farmer to processor to the grocery store, there’s risk.
Innovation and the Industry’s Road Forward
On the bright side, progress in plant science is giving the potato industry a bit of a buffer. Disease-resistant potatoes mean a bad year isn’t always catastrophic. Better irrigation and soil management help, too, especially in places with unpredictable weather.
Still, the risks aren’t going anywhere. In Belarus, farmers worry that unless price and export policies change, next season might look much the same. The U.S. continues to bet on better forecasting and smarter irrigation, but those solutions cost money and time. Big processors are now looking to secure longer-term supply deals and promote more diverse growing regions, just in case.
With the world so connected, one region’s problems quickly show up somewhere else. When one harvest is light, prices shoot up everywhere. That even filters down to your local fast-food order or supermarket shelves.
If you’re interested in the finer points of how smaller countries or companies try to manage these sorts of challenges, sites like dailybusinessvoice.com often pick up insider stories around procurement and food industry shifts.
Where Things Stand Now—and What to Watch For
As of spring 2025, the potato world still feels a bit unsettled. Belarus isn’t the only country wrestling with the hot question of how growers, buyers, and governments get on the same page. Farmers everywhere are looking for a balance—they want to sell enough at a fair price and still afford the supplies needed for next year’s planting.
Most experts agree: there probably won’t be a catastrophic famine like those in the distant past, at least in highly developed regions. Advances in storage, plant breeding, and shipping offer a kind of safety net. Yet, shortages and high prices are reminders that everyday foods can’t be taken for granted.
If you’re making dinner tonight and see that bag of potatoes is a little more expensive—or maybe a little scrawnier than last year—you’ll know why. It comes down to a mix of hot weather, tricky policies, tough economics, and a world that just isn’t as steady as it once was. In a way, the potato’s troubles are a clear sign of how everything, from climate to politics, really does come back to our kitchens.
The months ahead will tell us whether farmers, governments, and markets can work together better. For now, we’ll wait and see what the next harvest brings—and hope that next year’s crop puts a few more spuds back on the shelves.
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