USDA Buys $50 Million Worth of Potatoes
USDA Buys $50 Million Worth of Potatoes
You know what happens to potatoes when they are kept around too long? You can't sell them, that is for sure. You also can't eat them after they get too old, and thats a bigger problem for farmers who have an excess of potatoes - and nowhere to send them.
Some good news for potato farmers in the Northwest. The USDA is spending $50-million to buy excess potatoes.
50 million can buy lots of potatoes - that will go to people who are hungry and need them.
Kam Quarles with the National Potato Council.
“It’s very positive that they have taken this first step,” he said. “It provides some clarity for what we can anticipate, what we’re are going to see here in the short-term. Now we have to go back to Congress and get more.”
However - If the situation doesn’t improve or if the USDA doesn’t come in with a lot more money, Quarles says the industry will be hurting for a long time.
