Crops in the Netherlands

The drought that swept through Europe this year has hit European farmers hard. Sustained high temperatures and the lack of rain have badly affected the agrofood industry, including the important potato sector.

Europe has the highest level of potato consumption in the world at almost 90 kg per capita per year, and is the second largest potato producer globally with some 53 million tonnes harvested annually.

This animation shows early season crop type classification in the Emmeloord region of the Netherlands in June 2018 based on Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. Green shows summer crops, red: potatoes, orange: vegetables and flowers, yellow: cereals, and blue: grass.