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

the-berliner.com

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

#81

Post by dathinab »

elcapitan wrote: post #49
dathinab wrote: post #42

this might cause major financial damage to "traditional local markets"(1) and similar in Berlin and Brandenburg close to it (depending on what kind of potatoes this are, like quality, taste, how the cook (hard, soft), etc.) (1): Kinda a bit like local farmer markets, but also very different. the problem isn't the giving away stuff for free part but the scale of it I mean giving free stuff to people in need is always…

They are giving this away in portions of 1t, which isn't practical for normal consumers (unless they manage to pool somehow), so this won't have much of an effect on the normal consumer market. It's mostly directed at aid organizations, social stuff etc. From the original pages FAQ: > Wie viele Kartoffeln bekomme ich? > Jede Abnahmestelle erhält ca. 1 Tonne (1.000 kg) Kartoffeln.

thanks

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

#82

Post by bigbluesax »

olieidel wrote: post #64

Berlin is a great place to observe policies with good intentions, yet negative second-order effects. Distributing free potatoes will likely cause waste somewhere else, as e.g. people will buy less potatoes in supermarkets. The waste just becomes less visible as supermarkets dispose of food every day. Another current exhibit is the prohibition of using salt for removing snow and ice from the pavements because it's "ba…

Is the concept of someone who usually doesn't eat potatoes getting a bag and spending the next week making some potato dishes really that inconceivable? I don't doubt that this will lead to some waste - I've thrown out more half empty potato bags than I would like to admit - but that's a very negative outlook.

Also how do you choose between negative second order effects? Salting roads creates negative effects for groundwater and plants which are really hard to mitigate. On the other hand the second order effect of people slipping could at least be dealt with on an individual level by putting spikes on your shoes.

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

#83

Post by wiether »

woah wrote: post #75

Distributing (trucking, rent and employees at grocery stores, etc) the potatoes costs more than growing them. Even if they are available for free at the farm, the market price in the city cannot go below the cost of distribution without grocery stores and shipping companies working for free, which they have no reason to do. These are already some of the lowest-margin businesses out there. In this case, it seems that…

The story from Morgenpost:

https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article410886475/gruene-woc...

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

#84

Post by literalAardvark »

olieidel wrote: post #64

Berlin is a great place to observe policies with good intentions, yet negative second-order effects. Distributing free potatoes will likely cause waste somewhere else, as e.g. people will buy less potatoes in supermarkets. The waste just becomes less visible as supermarkets dispose of food every day. Another current exhibit is the prohibition of using salt for removing snow and ice from the pavements because it's "ba…

You could always just clean the snow instead of salting it. It's not rocket science.

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

#85

Post by tomaytotomato »

That could be a big potato battery bank?

According to google a 200g potato give off about half a volt (0.5v) and 0.2mah

    4000 tonnes = 4,000,000 kg = 4,000,000,000 g

    num potatoes = 4,000,000,000 / 200 = 20,000,000 potatoes

    volts = 20,000,000 x 0.5v = 10,000,000 volts (10megavolts)
current would stay the same at 0.2mah

I am not an electrical engineer, what could we do with this?

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

#86

Post by bddbbd »

literalAardvark wrote: post #84
olieidel wrote: post #64

Berlin is a great place to observe policies with good intentions, yet negative second-order effects. Distributing free potatoes will likely cause waste somewhere else, as e.g. people will buy less potatoes in supermarkets. The waste just becomes less visible as supermarkets dispose of food every day. Another current exhibit is the prohibition of using salt for removing snow and ice from the pavements because it's "ba…

You could always just clean the snow instead of salting it. It's not rocket science.

[flagged]

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

#88

Post by t-3 »

rpozarickij wrote: post #74

> 4,000 tons I did some math out of curiosity to better visualize this amount in my head. If we assume that a typical serving of potatoes in a meal where potatoes are an important part is 200g, then with 4 million kg of potatoes you can make 20 million of such meals (1/4 of Germany's population).

Or ~1600k small sacks of potatoes. About one sack per two people in Berlin, which is probably around roughly one per household.

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

#89

Post by f1shy »

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…

Thank you. I have to admit I did not take time to real all. I was just shocked by the 1 in 5. I kinda suspected is not the same definition of poverty and malnutrition in the 1st and 3rd world (I lived in both and know there are big differences) but is still was shocking high. But as you point out, is little more nuanced, and I will not keep the 20% figure in my head.

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

#90

Post by usrusr »

elcapitan wrote: post #49
dathinab wrote: post #42

this might cause major financial damage to "traditional local markets"(1) and similar in Berlin and Brandenburg close to it (depending on what kind of potatoes this are, like quality, taste, how the cook (hard, soft), etc.) (1): Kinda a bit like local farmer markets, but also very different. the problem isn't the giving away stuff for free part but the scale of it I mean giving free stuff to people in need is always…

They are giving this away in portions of 1t, which isn't practical for normal consumers (unless they manage to pool somehow), so this won't have much of an effect on the normal consumer market. It's mostly directed at aid organizations, social stuff etc. From the original pages FAQ: > Wie viele Kartoffeln bekomme ich? > Jede Abnahmestelle erhält ca. 1 Tonne (1.000 kg) Kartoffeln.

That FAQ is directed at organizations willing to act as a _distribution point_. So mostly charities who think they can spare the time and effort. I guess a better written FAQ would put it "Wie viele Kartoffeln bekommen _wir_?", making it more visible that it's directed at organizations. I just sampled a few of the distribution points already acknowledged and those do look like they will be passing them on to individual consumers.
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