![Potatoes scoot by on fast belts at Balcom & Moe in Pasco. The potatoes get a rinse, are sized and then put in bags destined for America’s supermarkets. The potato farmer and packer-shipper has been in business since the 1920’s. CREDIT: ANNA KING/NW NEWS NETWORK](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/KING-Frozen-Fries-Photo-3-1140x620.jpg)
The Economics Of Food Supply, Explained Through One Idaho Farmer’s Mountain Of Potatoes
BY NICKOLAI HAMMAR
While millions of Americans are struggling to get enough to eat and supermarkets are running out of certain foods, farmers all over the country are trashing their crops. Why aren’t these crops getting sent to stores?
The recent collapse of the restaurant industry has disrupted the U.S. food supply chain, and many of the crops grown specifically for restaurants have no place to go.
Instead of letting his harvest rot, a farmer in Idaho came up with a creative outcome for his mountain of potatoes.