January 2020 - 6

TAKING STOCK
EDITOR'S LETTER
Office 616-887-9008
NO FRIES?!?!
I
Managing Editor Zeke Jennings, 616-520-2159
zjennings@greatamericanpublish.com
n early December, Bloomberg published an article titled, " America
braces for french fry shortage after poor potato harvest. "
Zeke Jennings
Managing Editor
It was based on production estimates from the USDA-NASS that figure
American potato output will be down 6% from 2018.
Those estimates are largely because of the poor
weather during harvest in Idaho and the Red River
Valley. The story also included a quote attributed
to Travis Blacker of the Idaho Potato Commission
that stated that fry demand was increasing and it
was a challenge to meet that demand.
Blacker has spoken publicly many times over the
past couple of months detailing Idaho's 2019 crop
shortage in relation to recent years, as he did to Spudman for this story.
* 1.5% fewer acres were planted than last year.
* Two June frosts hindered yields.
* 15% of the crop was still in the ground when a hard freeze hit in early
October. Of that 15%, Blacker said anywhere from 5-30% may have
been damaged, but that is still being determined.
Idaho produced in excess of 13 billion pounds of potatoes this year.
Even with this year's losses, there is still a huge pile of potatoes to
process and pack, Blacker said.
In the days following Bloomberg's story, dozens of national and
regional media outlets posted their own versions of the-impendingfry-shortage
narrative, usually referencing back to Bloomberg's
original post. It's a practice called aggregating, which is paraphrasing
your own story based on someone else's reporting. Such stories usually
come with an attribute reading, " according to " or " in a report by. "
True or not, news can spread very quickly this way. Things even
reached the point where local TV reporters were walking into
restaurants and asking if they still had fries.
When the New York Times reached out to the Idaho Potato
Commission two days after the Bloomberg story, executive director
Frank Muir said what those in the potato industry already knew
- " don't panic, " we're not going to run out of fries.
The potato processing industry and, more importantly, the growers
who feed it, have a strong infrastructure in place. As bad as 2019 was for
the farms who suffered through the bad harvest - and those farmers are
in our thoughts - it would take a much bigger catastrophe to run out of
french fries. Yes, a hit in production will require supply adjustments to
made, and, yes, things could get tight here and there in future months.
A little scarcity can sometimes help a supplier's price. You don't ever
want the public to get the idea your product isn't available, however.
Although running out of potatoes in highly unlikely, how quickly
the story spread that it could happen proved one thing. Americans
sure care a lot about their fries.
6
Spudman.com
Contributing Editors Gary Pullano, 616-520-2144
Stephen Kloosterman, 616-520-2152
Digital Content Director Ana Olvera, 616-520-2171
aolvera@greatamericanpublish.com
Mulitmedia Designer Greg Ryan, 616-520-2145
spudproduction@spudman.com
Production Assistant Samantha Orsi, 616-520-2148
sorsi@greatamericanpublish.com
Editorial Board
Randy Hardy, Oakley Farms, Oakley, Idaho
Don Sklarczyk, Sklarczyk Seed Farms, Johannesburg, Mich.
Harry Strohauer, Strohauer Farms, La Salle, Colo.
Robert Thornton, Washington State University, Pullman, Wash.
Integrated Marketing Andrea Schafer, 616-520-2139
Consultant spudmanads@spudman.com
Editorial Director Tim Hodson, 616-520-2161
thodson@greatamericanpublish.com
Creative Director Kristina Howell, 616-520-2168
khowell@greatamericanpublish.com
Group Marketing Director Melissa Gray, 616-520-2153
mgray@greatamericanpublish.com
Custom Content Manager Jess Schmidt, 616-520-2141
jschmidt@greatamericanpublish.com
Circulation Becky Stovall, 616-520-2138
circulation@spudman.com
CEO Matt McCallum
publisher@spudman.com
CFO & Director of Deb Carnes, 616-520-2169
Human Resources dcarnes@greatamericanpublish.com
COO & Director of Kimberly Baker
Custom Media kbaker@greatamericanpublish.com
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January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2020
