Potato Giveaway Pt 2
I’m Bob Larson. The Washington State Potato Commission wants to thank everyone who came out last week in Ritzville and Moses Lake to take home free potatoes donated by farmers with a surplus of spuds in storage.
Commission President Chris Voigt says the loss of business has been crushing ...
VOIGT … “Well, when we close all the restaurants it has a devastating blow to our sales. We’ve essentially lost, you know, 90% of our market and it’s been a real struggle for our growers.”
Voigt says the numbers are mind-boggling …
VOIGT … “So, what we have at risk is roughly a billion pounds of potatoes, is actually worth about $100-million. So, we have at least $100-million out there at risk that farmers aren’t going to get paid for and it could be even more than that. This is really devastating for a lot of farmers.”
Voigt says everyone is praying for the “old normal” sooner than later …
VOIGT … “We hope that, again, we can get restaurants back open back up again, get our economy going, get our exports going again to our international markets so that we can avoid some of this devastation in the farm and rural communities.”
Voigt says it’s what we do in times like these …
VOIGT … “So, we’re going to try and feed as many people as we can and we hope that the USDA again can step in and buy up even more potatoes so we can do more and more of these types of events to all those people who’ve been laid off.”
For all those that came by to pick up free potatoes, Voigt hopes you enjoy them and he looks forward to doing more of these events around the state.
