November/December 2020 - 19

SUPPLY CHAIN CONCERNS
" In this situation, a contract didn't
cover your risk, so it was a lesson we
all learned this year. "
In the case of Washington, 95% of
state-grown potatoes go to processors.
The freshpack infrastructure couldn't
handle the one billion extra pounds
growers had in storage in a short
amount of time, even if they could
find retail buyers.
" It takes (Washington's) fresh potato
industry a year to move one billion pounds
of potatoes, " Voigt said. " Now you have
an extra billion pounds and, oh, and you
only have three months to move it (in
addition to the 250 million pounds that
normally moves during that time frame).
" Logistics is the challenge. How would
you run that amount through our packing
sheds? That's 20,000 semitrucks. "
Ways to improve?
While everyone hopes the challenges
presented by the pandemic are a oncein-a-lifetime
occurrence, they do beg
the question: has the situation revealed
a need for changes?
When asked if he has considered
adding varieties with more market
versatility, Lake said he has, but
added that he's spent years developing
growing techniques for a small number
of varieties because, ultimately, the
high-volume fry makers want certain
characteristics in their potatoes. Growers
also have to take disease risk in their
particular region into consideration.
" You have to look at what fits your
farm, " said Lake, who used potato virus
Y threat in his seed-growing area as
an example of a disease concern. " At
our level, it's a $250,000 to $350,000
commitment (to add a variety) to the
level where (major processors) can do
something with it.
" It's a very expensive and risky
venture. "
While open acres carry risk, perhaps
the contracted-acre system within the
processing and foodservice supply chain
needs adjusting. Voigt said the crisis has
demonstrated that growers currently
carry the majority of the risk in the
contracted-acres setup.
POTATOES
" I think there wi l l be
some
conversations, particularly in contract
negotiations, of how to mitigate this
type of risk, " Voigt said. " I'm not exactly
sure what that will look like yet. "
Muir, who noted that the commission
represents all of the Idaho potato
industry, processors included, said
respect and fairness between suppliers
and customers is key.
" That has to happen for the industry
to be healthy, " Muir said. " I hope there
have been some lessons learned.
" You certainly can't take the profit
out of the grower's pocket, or else the
processor doesn't have a product. "
In terms of infrastructure changes,
Voigt noted that even in the rarest of
circumstances that we've experienced,
consumers didn't go without food.
" People say our food system is
broken, it's not, " he said. " We actually
have the best food system ever. Can it
handle a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic?
Well, that's difficult. There were some
shortages early on, but people still
got food. "
PRODUCE PROCESS ING
19
November/December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2020
