“Get yourself a potato, but make it from the Canary Islands” is the slogan of the Canary Islands Government campaign to promote the consumption of local potatoes compared to imported produce.
An initiative that the Canarian Executive launched last summer to support this crop and that it is now recovering due to the forecast of a good campaign for this tuber as a result of the abundant rainfall recorded during the first quarter of the year, which positively affects agricultural activity on the islands.
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Sovereignty of the Government of the Canary Islands, Narvay Quintero, accompanied by the CEO of GMR Canarias, Juan Antonio Alonso, commented today that this initiative is part of the strategy promoted by the Regional Executive with the aim of raising awareness among consumers about the importance of their purchasing decisions for the maintenance of the primary sector of the Canary Islands and the promotion of the local economy, especially in the midlands areas, “as well as for the recognition of the group of professionals who offer an excellent product closely linked to Canarian culinary and cultural tradition.”
This action, in which chef Braulio Simancas (Tasca Silbo Gomero) and farmer Sergio Rodríguez (Frutas y Verduras Nito) participate, aims to raise awareness among the population of the islands about the impact of consuming this local product that “suffers from unfair competition from imports”, highlighting its main qualities, quality and freshness, and recalling its importance in Canarian gastronomy.
A great harvest
During his speech, Quintero explained that this proposal, which was presented last July at the request of the producers “as a reinforcement action in the face of an excess of production stock that some operators on the islands suffered at that time”, is now relaunched “given the good reception it had among farmers and consumers, the forecast of an excellent harvest for this year, both in quantity of production and in quality, due to rainfall, and the concentration of supply in the coming months due to the delay in harvesting due to the rains.”
“In January we paid 3.8 million euros corresponding to an exceptional aid line to alleviate the effects of the drought, implemented in 2024 by this Ministry, of which 1.4 million went to 193 potato producers, many of whom allocated these funds to new plantations of this crop that have been favored by the abundant rainfall recorded in recent months,” he added.
The minister also referred to the loss of cultivated area that this tuber has experienced in the Canary Islands in recent years, which, he pointed out, went from about 5,400 hectares in 2014 to 3,300 in 2023. He also explained that the average prices received by farmers per kilo of this production, of which about 78,000 tons were recorded in 2023, remained above one euro in 2024, “an acceptable amount that allows the activity to be profitable.”
“That is why I am taking advantage of this presentation to call on marketers and large distributors to guarantee the payment of a fair price for the product that covers production costs and allows producers to obtain their corresponding profit as entrepreneurs that they are,” he pointed out.
For his part, Sergio Rodríguez expressed his gratitude “for being able to be part of this action that values the work of Canarian family farming” and highlighted “the important role played by the large stores that are committed to these productions, a unique product due to the climatic and geographical conditions in which it is produced, by bringing it closer to consumers.”
The CEO of GMR Canarias, Juan Antonio Alonso, referred to the work carried out by the public entity to promote local products and the work that his commercial team has been carrying out to value these productions in the shelves of supermarkets, “an area in which we must continue working.”
The details of the advertising campaign
The campaign is aimed at all individuals with purchasing power in the archipelago, consists of a 31-second audiovisual piece and 'posters' in different formats that will be broadcast from today until April 30 on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Youtube), on the Google digital advertising platform (Google Display), through programmatic advertising, as well as in public spaces through digital screens in shopping centers, hypermarkets, public transport, and digital mupis, that is, street furniture that is used as advertising support.
The campaign video reviews everyday episodes in which the potato is present, such as a shop assistant and a customer in a fruit shop, a chef in his kitchen, a family around the table or the farmer Sergio Rodríguez representing the professionals of the agricultural sector on his farm. In each scene, each of them emphasizes the slogan “Get yourself a potato, but make it from the Canary Islands” before closing the audiovisual piece with the message: “support our farmers; enjoy the quality and flavor of our land.”
On the other hand, the rest of the action's creations praise the work of the professionals in the sector through an image focused on some potatoes on a furrow of land while a farmer, in the background, advances with his harvester. Through this image, in addition to highlighting the effort involved in working in the field, the roots of this crop in the Canarian tradition and culture are emphasized.
Representatives of the professional agricultural organizations, ASAGA, PALCA and COAG, attended the presentation ceremony.
