3-27 IAN Poor Spud Logic

A conversation that will make everybody in agriculture angry. Make that everybody in general. I had a recent conversation with Executive Director of the Idaho Potato Commission, Frank Muir. "If you actually wrote down all of the objectives of the WIC program, white potatoes would check off every single one of them. The guidelines for the USDA are to get women and children their nutritional needs and eat more food that have potassium and fiber, which of course potatoes are full of, also there is no cholesterol or fat in a potato. It's like 110 cal for a medium potato and it is loaded with other micronutrients and vitamins. The bottom line is, for whatever reason, the administration is boycotting potatoes. There has been no scientific rationale given. The only explanation that has ever been given is that people are already eating enough potatoes. You could make the same argument for tomatoes, bananas or apples. Potatoes would score as well as or better than most nutrient measurements than any of those. So there is no reasonable explanation. In fact Congress has voted by a majority to for the administration to add potatoes for the first time. This is to the WIC program. And yet, that direct action has been totally ignored.