Idaho farmer giving away millions of pounds of potatoes to food banks and charities

With what one expert described as a “potato flood in Europe” and elsewhere, the potato market is so saturated that one Idaho farmer is trying to give away tons of spuds to needy people, as Mark Heinz reports for the Cowboy State Daily.

“We were just getting to the point where we were having to discard all these potatoes, dump them on the ground, or use them to feed cattle or whatever. But I’d rather see them go to feed hungry people,” Rexburg, Idaho farmer Kent Sutton told Cowboy State Daily.

He put out a plea on social media, stating that he had “millions of pounds” of potatoes to give away.

All he asked is that takers cover the freight costs of getting the spuds to food banks or other worthy destinations.

He wasn’t sure what to expect, but the response floored him.

“In about 20 minutes, I had booked 10 semi loads of potatoes to go out over the next two weeks,” he said.

“Each semi load is 42,000 pounds,” he added.

There was at least one request for excess spuds from the Star Valley area of Wyoming, he said. And food banks as far away as the Midwest also answered the call.

He’s almost caught up with his potato glut for now. But he’s sure he’ll have many more pallets of potatoes to offer once he starts to dip into his stored crops.

Fonte: Cowboy State Daily. Leia a história completa aqui