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It's so funny to see capitalism trying to cover it's ass. Since when does having a great harvest translate to free food for everyone? Gimme a break. The reason those 4 million kilos of potatoes are being given away is that the capitalist who was holding the futures contract for these potatoes decided to take a loss instead of have the potatoes delivered to market, since the price of potatoes would not have yielded him a profit. The point of capitalism is to yield a profit, even for life's basic necessities. In this case, it wasn't even the futures trader that arranged the giveaway- it was the people who did. The trader didn't plant or harvest a single potato, but he was placed in charge of four million kilos of food. It really goes to show that we don't need these people at all- we can manage much better without them.
Auto-translation of linked article:
Try to imagine a quantity of four million kilograms of potatoes. Four million kilograms - that’s 4000 tons, the weight of 800 adult elephants, stacked as high as the Berlin TV Tower. It’s a lot that could fill hundreds of thousands of people.
These potatoes are stored in the halls of a farm south of Leipzig, neatly sorted, cool and dry, best food quality. And they have a problem: no one wants them.
The story of these potatoes is a story about the absurdities of our food system. A trader had ordered the harvest, but when the potatoes were harvested and stored, it was clear: the supply on the market is greater than the demand. The market price had fallen, the offer too big. What is no longer profitable for trade becomes a burden for the producer. Financially, everything was settled, but the potatoes remained.
Shortly before Christmas, I received an email from Ecosia, a search engine we had just reported on. Ecosia is the Berlin company that plants trees with its advertising revenue – over 200 million worldwide. Chief Financial Officer Wolfgang Oels wrote that there is contact with a farm south of Leipzig that has to destroy 4000 tons of potatoes. “Do we, as Berliner Morgenpost and Ecosia, want to make this a joint action?”
We can. We want. And we need your help.
The largest potato rescue in the city
The plan is simple: Ecosia finances the transport from Saxony to Berlin. The Berliner Morgenpost helps to organize the free distribution.
We are looking for distribution points throughout the city: parishes, schools, sports clubs, neighborhood initiatives, social institutions or private individuals. Each collection point receives one ton of potatoes, free of charge, to distribute to all who can use them (Agria variety, firm cooking!). They can help distribute - and show together with us what is possible if we treat food for what they are: valuable.