Food: You want fries with that? Potato shortage cripples fast-food nation

Cold weather renders Idaho potato crop out of the frying pan – and out of the fryer!|
KATHLEEN HILL
INDEX-TRIBUNE FOOD & WINE EDITOR

According to reports from USA Today and other national news outlets, cold snaps in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and eastern part of Idaho have reduced the number and tons of potatoes harvested in the two largest potato producing states in the United States.

As its reputation for potato farming attests, Idaho grows one-third of all potatoes produced in the United States. Some farmers even grow exclusively for certain fast food French-fry specialists, like McDonald’s. Idaho Potato Commission CEO Frank Muir told the USA Today: “A frost like that can be pretty devastating to our crop.”

About 15 percent of the crop was lost, so one must wonder if your fast food fry containers will hold 15 percent fewer French fries?

And all of this comes just as the deep fried chicken sandwich and fries returns to Popeye’s and other fast food purveyors as chicken processing plants find workers during a labor shortage.

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