Potato Contribution Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Responsible for a $109-billion dollar contribution to the U.S. economy, according to a new Michigan State University study, the potato industry has even more to be proud of than JUST being America’s favorite vegetable.
And now, National Potato Council CEO, Kam Quarles says, they’d like to build on those numbers …
QUARLES … “Absolutely. I think that’s the goal. Our hope is to make this the floor. It’s not the ceiling. And we need some help from our federal and international partners.”
And, Quarles says, the best way to do that …
QUARLES … “We’ve got to get markets open. We need to be successful in the nutrition space with all that’s going on there. We’ve got to get a Farm Bill. We’ve got to get access to a reliable workforce. If we do all of those things, this certainly is the floor, and those numbers are going to grow substantially.”
But they could also use a little help from Congress …
QUARLES … “Anything that they can do that’s additive in terms of trade agreements, passing a Farm Bill, ag labor reform, all of that is going to make that $100 billion dollar annual contribution to the U.S economy even larger. It’s going to add to that 714,000 jobs and add to the 53-billion that we already contribute to the U.S. GDP.”
With more than 714,000 jobs created, the potato industry also contributed $34-billion in wages.
