Will Minnesota Be Facing a French Fry Shortage?
What?!? A shortage of french fries? Here in Minnesota? Really?!?
Outside of the phrase 'beer shortage,' this might be the scariest story I've read so far this week. But, apparently, a shortage of those deep-fried beauties could be a real possibility here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
At least that's what this Yahoo Finance story says, anyway. It's all due to the really, really crappy weather we've experienced this year. And not just for us city folk, mind you, I'm talking about the weather having been horrible this year for Minnesota's ag community.
Let's review 2019 here in Minnesota, shall we? We had record snow in February, a cold, wet spring that hampered planting and then we set a record for the wettest year ever, which made crops tough to grow-- and even tougher to get harvested this fall before the snow fell again.
All of that impacted Minnesota's potato crop enough that, combined with poor growing conditions in other potato-producing areas like North Dakota and parts of Canada that it's putting pressure on other potato hot spots, like Idaho.
“French fry demand has just been outstanding lately, and so supplies can’t meet the demand,” Travis Blacker, industry-relations director with the Idaho Potato Commission, said in a phone interview, the Yahoo story noted.
However, the story said that while we'll still probably be able to find enough fries to satisfy pretty much any carb craving, you might notice prices increasing, as potato processing drops to its lowest level in almost a decade.
You can read more about the possible french fry shortage HERE.
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