In brief
A farm in Saxony is distributing millions of excess potatoes to residents in Berlin as part of a campaign to prevent waste. Dubbed 'the great potato rescue,' the initiative has sparked mixed reactions from the community and local farmers, who have criticized it as a PR stunt. Despite concerns, the effort aims to highlight the value of potatoes while feeding those in need.
A vast stockpile of potatoes is being given away for free by a farm in the German state of Saxony, after a bumper national harvest.
Thousands of tasty tubers have been rolling into the country's capital, Berlin, since mid-January, with residents risking icy streets to bag their share.
Dubbed the great potato rescue it is part of a plan to stop about 4 million kg (8.8 million lb) of surplus spuds from going to ruin. Food banks, schools, and churches are among the beneficiaries, according to organisers.
However, the enterprise was labelled a disgusting PR stunt by the Brandenburg Farmers' Association, which lamented the impact on local markets.
Germany is the European Union's potato-producing capital, and last year's harvest has left the market saturated.
Ultimately it is about putting the potato in the spotlight as a valuable food, said Berliner Morgenpost editor Peter Schink, who helped spearhead the plan.
The newspaper teamed up with eco-friendly search engine firm Ecosia to coordinate and fund the distribution of the spuds.
Not wishing to discard its magnificent tubers back into the fields, Osterland Agrar says it's set to have bussed around 500,000kg to Berlin and other parts of Germany and Ukraine.
We can store them until the middle of this year, said Hans-Joachim von Massow, Managing Director of Osterland Agrar, the agricultural firm that ended up with all the potatoes, after a customer contract was cancelled and settled.
But not everyone is celebrating. Food is and will remain valuable, even if thoughtless do-gooders throw around free potatoes at schools and churches, said Timo Scheib from the Brandenburg Farmers' Association.
In Berlin, a special website lists 174 spud-hubs in and around the capital.
The BBC skidded optimistically along to a pickup spot at the city's decommissioned airfield, Tempelhofer Feld, but there were no veggie sacks to be seen.
And when we sheepishly asked a local resident about whether she'd noticed any frei Kartoffeln in the area, she seemed slightly mystified, if not a little concerned for me.
Nevertheless, as potatoes took off out of Saxony, so has the story, receiving media coverage in Germany and beyond.
This is a country, after all, that has a well-known gastronomic passion for potatoes.
However we are told by Schink that the influx is, as things stand, set to wind down in Berlin as the funding is drying up.
One more truckload can be expected once the weather is warm enough.
