French potato production in 2026 has seen a notable decline, with estimates showing a 22 percent drop compared to previous years. According to Insee, France's national statistics office, which now provides agricultural estimates previously handled by Agreste, the decline is partly due to heatwaves, which accounted for 9 percentage points of the drop, and a reduction in planted areas, which contributed another 13 percentage points. Potatoes make up around 4 percent of France's total agricultural production in 2026, with fruits and vegetables each contributing 5 percent and oilseeds 3 percent. Insee has found no evidence that heatwaves have affected consumer prices for potatoes. Agreste, the statistical service of the Ministry of Agriculture, had earlier estimated that preserved and semi-seasonal potato production in 2026 would reach 6.5 million tons, down from 8.3 million tons in 2025. Planted areas are expected to fall by 14 percent, and yields by 9 percent, with an average yield potentially below 40 tons per hectare, one of the lowest since 1996. However, compared to the average from 2021 to 2025, the 2026 production would still be only 7.2 percent lower. This decline follows an exceptional 2025 harvest, with Agreste estimating that the preserved harvest in November 2025 was nearly 24 percent above the 2020-2024 average. The National Union of Potato Producers (UNPT) calculated this growth at 25 percent since 2023. In December 2025, UNPT and the interprofessional sector estimated that an additional million tons could have been harvested in France. Retail prices for potatoes have fallen, with the National Interprofessional Committee of Potatoes (CNIPT) tracking household purchases through the Myworldpanel panel. From May 18 to June 14, 2026, the average price paid in supermarkets reached 1.22 euros per kilogram, a 13.3 percent decrease from the same period in 2025. Over these four weeks, the volumes purchased in supermarkets decreased by 7.1 percent. Insee noted in July a price decrease of 4.3 percent on an annual basis at the production stage. Producers have reduced their areas following the oversupply of 2025, with UNPT estimating a decline in preserved planting areas at 9.7 percent, or 18,684 hectares less, bringing the total to 173,415 hectares compared to 192,099 hectares in 2025. The Hauts-de-France region still accounts for nearly 61 percent of the national areas. Water deficits and heat episodes further exacerbated the decline in production. On August 24, UNPT published its projections, expecting a yield of 37.4 tons per hectare for consumption potatoes, down from 43.5 tons in 2025. This would be the lowest yield observed in more than thirty years. UNPT estimates a production decline of 23 percent, or nearly 2 million tons less than in 2025. Agreste notes that yields could be very heterogeneous depending on the plots, regions, and irrigation possibilities. The decline is not limited to the fresh market. Agreste estimates that starch potato production would decline by 17 percent over a year, mainly due to a decrease in yield of about 6 tons per hectare. Starch production would thus be 42 percent lower than the 2021-2025 average. UNPT expects smaller sizes and variable dry matter content in the harvest, requesting that buyers' acceptance criteria be adapted to the 2026 harvest. The organization also requests that contractual volumes be adjusted to the reality of the harvest, noting that part of the volumes foreseen in the contracts will not be produced. UNPT estimates the economic losses of producers at at least 400 million euros, though these estimates remain provisional and are based on the assumption that no particular event will affect the end of the season. From September, the yields gradually incorporate the results of the Terres labourables survey, conducted among about 17,000 farmers. The next Agreste publications will therefore clarify the actual extent of the decline, one year after a record harvest.