USDA buys $50 million of potatoes to help struggling US farmers

We have been following the plight of Washington potato growers over the last month, as 95 percent of their business has dried up. There have been potato giveaways and fears of farms going under.

WA potato farmers on the brink with a billion pounds of unused spuds

The USDA has stepped in to buy $50 million worth of potatoes across the country. The head of the National Potato Council Kam Quarles said it’s a great first step, but potato growers are going to need a lot more to keep farms from going under.

“It’s very positive that they have taken this first step,” he said. “It provides some clarity for what we can anticipate, what we’re are going to see here in the short-term. Now we have to go back to Congress and get more.”

Quarles told the Ag Information Network the money needs to go to the billion pounds of surplus potatoes in the state so growers with money in the ground will have a market when they’re ready to harvest.

“The first priority is to move those 2019 storage potatoes so that it creates options for folks who are planting right now for 2020,” he said.

They also have to move some dehydrated and frozen potatoes to make sure that the processors can take newly harvested potatoes.

If the situation doesn’t improve or if the USDA doesn’t come in with a lot more money, Quarles said the industry will be hurting for a long time.

“If the pipeline remains clogged up, the economic impact of this pandemic is just going to continue to echo for well over a year,” he said.

Washington potato growers are continuing their donations to food banks and to their communities. There was a huge giveaway in Ritzville last weekend, and there is another one tomorrow in the Tri-Cities, where growers will have 100,000 pounds of potatoes available. The plan is to give away up to 800,000 pounds across the state.

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