Potatoes amid the coronavirus outbreak in Picabo, Idaho, April 23, 2020 (Lisa Philips/Reuters)

Headline of the Morning Jolt, Friday: “Eat More Potatoes, America.”

The Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, Friday: “The IFBF has also sought to make large purchases of potatoes to help the state’s farmers while also providing badly needed food assistance to residents who have lost jobs because of the coronavirus crisis.”


The big headline on CNBC today: “Belgians urged to eat fries twice a week as coronavirus creates massive potato surplus.”

The Bangor Daily News, today: “About 12-15 percent of potatoes from the 2019 harvest have gone unsold so far, Maine Potato Board Executive Director Don Flannery said. And because of the steep decline in demand for the 2019 crop, farmers’ spring potato planting likely will be down at least 5,000 acres — about a 10 percent drop in acreage since last year . . . Lower demand from restaurants leaves potato processors with bags of frozen french fries that can’t find a home, even as a spike in frozen french fry sales nationwide leads to shortages in many supermarkets.”

The Idaho State Journal, today: “Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council, said nobody thinks that resumption of the normal farming economy will be like flipping a light switch ‘Most optimistically, it will take many months of gradual attempts to get back to where we were,’ he said.”



East Idaho News.com, today: “Leavitt Group — Archibald Insurance Center has offices in Idaho Falls, Rigby and Rexburg and on Friday, the company will be handing out free 10 lb. bags of potatoes to anyone who would like one at all three locations. The event runs from 10 a.m. to noon, or while supplies last.”

Canada’s CTV, today: “Canadian farmers have been forced to freeze nearly 200 million pounds of potatoes destined to become french fries because there is no one to buy them.”

We’ve built an amazing system to grow food, process it, package it, and prepare it for consumers — but that system wasn’t built to handle the sudden halt of all consumption through restaurants and schools.

Assuming you can find the potatoes on the shelves in your stores, America . . . keep eating those french fries, baked potatoes, potato chips, tater tots and hash browns. For some of us, this is the call to service we’ve always been ready to answer.