News

The French fry shortage that wasn't

Photo: iStock

December 4, 2019

The Idaho Potato Commission has reassured Americans today that despite reported possibilities of a French fry shortage due to a poor potato harvest, restaurants and others who depend on the tubers for their fries will almost assuredly have plenty to feed their French fry fanatical customers. 

Two days after a Bloomberg report that a fry shortage was possible, Idaho Potato Commission President Frank Muir told the New York Times said there's no real cause for alarm among restaurateurs or consumers.

"Don't panic about the French fries," Muir told the Times. "You can still go out and order them like you normally do."

It has been a rough year for the product, particularly in Canada where United Potato Growers of Canada General Manager Kevin MacIsaac told the Times about 18,000 acres of tubers froze and were otherwise wiped out in early cold weather, producing lousy yield for the second straight year. 

In the U.S., too, the potato crop this year was down about 6% from last year, particularly for the potatoes intended for French fries that are harvested slightly earlier than those used in chips and fresh potato dishes, the newspaper reported. 

Nonetheless, Muir said most of Idaho's crop was harvested by the time of the first frost, though the total harvest in that state was down from 14 billion pounds last year to 13 billion this year, he said. Similarly, there are many other sources of potatoes, since China, India, Russia and Ukraine all produced more than the U.S. in 2017. 

Two potato suppliers to restaurants and consumers, Simplot and McCain told the Times there were enough potatoes to meet demand.