4k tons of potatoes to be given away for free in Berlin • Hacker News Board

Re: 4k tons of potatoes to be given away for free in Berlin

#151

Post by metalman » Fri, Jan 16, 2026, 9:09 AM UTC

Xylakant wrote: post #141

StanislavPetrov wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Or maybe don't make everyone responsible for the public roadway/sidewalk in front of their house and instead have the people that are responsible for all other things public roadway/sidewalk be responsible? Here in New York the problem is opposite. Every home and business owner is responsible for quickly clearing any walkways/sidewalks/driveways they own and are in front of their homes or businesses. New York is ver…

I believe enforcement would solve the problem for Berlin as well. Just hand out substantial fines to change the calculus for the home owner. At the moment, the risk/reward is favoring doing nothing, so that's what a lot of people do.

what is bieng nibbled at but not spoken is the fundamental conection between responsabilities and rights of citizens, and the long nasty never ending attempts to seperate and comidify them.

Re: 4k tons of potatoes to be given away for free in Berlin

#152

Post by lern_too_spel » Fri, Jan 16, 2026, 11:38 PM UTC

honeycrispy wrote: post #56

SpudEater wrote: post #26

This is great news to me.

Some farmer probably lost a lot of money over this. Our farmers feed us, and generally have thin margins. I see headlines like this and I generally see it as reason for concern as the market not working like it should, and could be a signal of a larger problem down the road.

No, the farmer got paid when the commodities trader bought their harvest on the futures market months ago. The trader lost it all though and ended up giving the potatoes away to the newspaper for free.

Re: 4k tons of potatoes to be given away for free in Berlin

#153

Post by LoveMortuus » Thu, Jan 22, 2026, 9:04 AM UTC

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #98

mrzool wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Joke’s on you, got an air fryer for Christmas and I’m roasting potatoes every day, never bought so many potatoes in my life. They’re absolutely delicious.

If only they were genetically modified to contain more protein

This would be really cool! Extra points if you can add a more varied nutritional profile.

Re: 4k tons of potatoes to be given away for free in Berlin

#154

Post by LoveMortuus » Thu, Jan 22, 2026, 9:11 AM UTC

Aerroon wrote: post #65

f1shy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the site says “FACT - 100% of Counties - Hunger exists in everywhere – no community is untouched” What I pretty much suspected. But that in USA 20% of children don’t get enough? That is a big TIL for my ignorance. A sister comment states some child eat only at school. Boy I thought (in 2 figure percentage) was only 3rd world.

The figures are a bit misleading. First you've got to understand what food security is: > "at the household level, food security is defined as access to food that is adequate in terms of quality, quantity, safety and cultural acceptability for all household members." (Gillespie, and Mason, 1991). [0] These potatoes being given away might not meet all the criteria for food security either. Eg they might not have all t…

Yeah, not great... I often skip meals on days that I don't work, to save on food and money, though I don't save much, since I mostly just eat rice and tuna, but I get by.

EDIT: I live in Portugal.