Problems Digging into Potato Industry

The problems facing U.S. potato growers could fill a 10-pound sack. They have added up to mounting financial pressures on some farmers and a pullback in planted acres in Idaho, America’s potato capital.

Drought Impact on Potato Growers

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Integrated Drought Information System’s drought map shows two troubling colors for Idaho: crimson and red.

Crimson, a color that illustrates on the map the area considered “exceptional drought” in 1.1% of the U.S., covers southern Idaho. A slightly brighter shade of red, the second-worst color representation of current drought, is prevalent in 7.8% of the U.S. It covers nearly the bottom half of the state with an “extreme drought” label.

Nearly all the northern half of Idaho on the map wears three other concerning colors that signal “severe drought,” “moderate drought, “or “abnormally dry.”

Washington, another top potato-producing state which provides some of the highest yields per acre, is also nearly covered in “severe drought,” “moderate drought,” or “abnormally dry,” although, it has a smaller north central area of “extreme drought.”

Wisconsin, which grows potatoes that often become chips, has “severe drought,” “moderate drought” or “abnormally dry” in nearly two-thirds of its area.

North Dakota also those three lower levels of drought as well, but it also includes small patches of “extreme drought” on its western and eastern borders.

Why Does Drought Threaten Potato Planting Conditions?

“For potato growers, the issue is not simply whether a region appears dry on a national map,” wrote Potato News Today Editor/Publisher Lukie Pieterse back in April as he looked at how extreme weather could place an early hardship of this year’s potato crops.

He continued. “The real concern is how drought intersects with planting conditions, stored soil moisture, snowpack, reservoir levels, groundwater availability, irrigation costs, tuber initiation, bulking, and the ability to meet quality specifications for fresh, processing and seed markets.”

Add drought to the host of other challenges that include “heat waves, pesticide-resistant insects, and surging production from foreign competitors,” pointed out Politico’s Marc Heller, and the industry is looking at a 15,000 reduction in planted acres in Idaho.

How Is the Make America Healthy Again Movement Affecting Potatoes?

Heller also talked with Kamren Koompin, a potato farmer from American Falls, Idaho, who wonders how the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which often turns its ire on ultra-processed foods, could turn consumers against potato chips because of aversion to the use of seed oils in the process.

“What happens in Idaho can affect the potato market in the whole country,” Koompkin said as he talked about the struggles of farmers in his state.

An additional challenge for potato growers is America’s changing diet demands, which is led by the growing use of weight loss drugs.

“The new one, as you know, is the GLP-1 inhibitors,” Jamey Higham, President & CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission, told American Farmland Owner. “And we’ve been battling that for a little while. And it’s not just potatoes. It’s all food, because people are… it’s just not that they’ve stopped eating, they’re just eating less of everything.”

RELATED: Higham shared on the American Farmland Owner podcast how his industry is working to convince Americans to not give up on potatoes.