The potato growers of Washington are continuing their mission to get 1 million pounds of the 1 billion pounds of unprocessed potatoes to those in need. Ninety percent of all the potatoes grown in Washington State are sold to restaurants and other food service establishments. With so many restaurants closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, our potato farmers have lost most of their customers. These closures and restrictions on restaurants have created a huge surplus of 1 billion pounds of unprocessed potatoes that no longer have a home.
This has created a huge financial loss to many of our growers as they were
counting on someone to buy their crop.This will cause total
devastation to our farmers. Some of the smaller growers will not make
it out of this crisis.Our farmers and their families also recognize
that they are not the only ones suffering financially. So many people
have lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meet. Our farmers
would like to donate the potatoes that were originally set to be
processed to food banks and those in need, these are potatoes that are
not sorted, so each bag will have multiple sizes. These are not like
the potatoes you see in the stores that are all the same size in a bag.
The potatoes that we have a surplus of, were all scheduled to be turned
into french fries, tater tots, wedges, etc. The farmers do not want to
see these potatoes in storage shed go to waste..........To Read More....
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