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Climate change is making it harder to grow the potatoes traditionally used for French friesBut new varieties are helping farmers adapt to warmer, drier conditions.
yaleclimatecinnections ^

Posted on 04/13/2021 6:31:33 AM PDT by mylife

Do you want fries with that? Potatoes are a very popular side dish.

The most common potato variety is the Russet Burbank, which is mainly grown in the Pacific Northwest. But as the climate there gets warmer and drier, growing these tubers may become more difficult.

Richard Novy is with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Idaho. He says to water their crops, many farmers in his state depend on mountain snowpack, which melts slowly throughout the growing season.

“And so if we have less snowfall up in the mountains or earlier melting of that snowpack, that can impact our irrigation going into the future,” he says.

Hot, dry weather can reduce farmers’ yields. And it can make the potatoes grow unattractive bumps.

Novy says another risk posed by rising temperatures is that more of the potatoes’ starch content will convert to sugar.

“Then when you fry that tuber,” he says, “you’ll get a very dark potato chip or a dark french fry, so not desirable by most consumers.”

To help the industry adapt, Novy and other scientists have been developing new, more resilient potato varieties.

So even as the climate changes, diners can continue to order fries with that.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
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Who knew Yale offered degrees for fry technicians?


1 posted on 04/13/2021 6:31:33 AM PDT by mylife
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To: mylife

Plenty of good looking russets for sale here in upstate NY.


2 posted on 04/13/2021 6:33:12 AM PDT by Kenny500c ( )
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To: mylife

If, if, if, if, if...

That’s about all I read in the article - many speculations, most if not all of which are so obvious as to make me think, ‘well, duh!’


3 posted on 04/13/2021 6:33:27 AM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity ("...for the sake of His name." Psalm 23:3)
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4 posted on 04/13/2021 6:33:44 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife
making it harder to grow the potatoes traditionally used for French fries

Maybe God is trying to tell you something.....................

5 posted on 04/13/2021 6:37:02 AM PDT by Red Badger ("We've always been at war with Climate Change, Winston."..............................)
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So, none of this has actually happened, but when it does they’re ready...


6 posted on 04/13/2021 6:37:58 AM PDT by SuzyQue
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Novy says another risk posed by rising temperatures is that more of the potatoes’ starch content will convert to sugar.

“Then when you fry that tuber,” he says, “you’ll get a very dark potato chip or a dark french fry, so not desirable by most consumers.”

explain the popularity of sweet potato fries Yale boy...


7 posted on 04/13/2021 6:38:31 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

But will they be able to grow potatoes when the cooling effects from the current Solar Minimum are in full force?? Will they still call it Global Warming when the ground is frozen over in June??


8 posted on 04/13/2021 6:39:19 AM PDT by eyeamok (founded in cynicism, wrapped in sarcasm)
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To: mylife

Go Fun OFF!


9 posted on 04/13/2021 6:42:17 AM PDT by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
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To: mylife
What are they talking about? I grow potatoes in my garden. Not only am I getting more potatoes, I’m getting bigger potatoes.


10 posted on 04/13/2021 6:48:12 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: Leaning Right

11 posted on 04/13/2021 6:51:13 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Is it still cheaper to ship a potato from China then one from Idaho?


12 posted on 04/13/2021 6:53:05 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: mylife

The headline says, “Climate change IS making it harder to grow potatoes”. The text says, “But as the climate there gets warmer and drier, growing these tubers MAY become more difficult.”


13 posted on 04/13/2021 6:53:57 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: yesthatjallen

See how this works?


14 posted on 04/13/2021 6:56:13 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: PIF

“Is it still cheaper to ship a potato from China then one from Idaho?”

Who knows...

Every summer in Manhattan, MT lines of semi trucks with Idaho license plates line up to have their empty hopers filled with Montana grown seed potatoes.

There are NO Chinese trucks in these lines...


15 posted on 04/13/2021 7:13:00 AM PDT by BBB333 (The Power Of Trump Compels You!)
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To: mylife

The money quote:

“But new varieties are helping farmers adapt”

THAT - adaptation - is 100% the natural world’s and the human ANTIDOTE to the alarmists.

LIFE will adapt, and so can we. In fact we have never in human existence been more capable, technologically, to adapt to “climate change” than humans ever have been.

I recently noted how certain plant and animal species are finding more “green pastures” in lands north of where they have “normally” been found.

Now while I recognize that does “change” the “ecosystem” in places, the alarmist message is that it “destroys” the “ecosystem”. No it does not. Two things happen. (A) Some species advance and some species decline. And (B) some species adapt and remain viable right where they are. [I expect Polar Bears can adapt, and their children might gradually even lose the degree their fur is “white”, fitting in with a more often green & brown arctic if they must, but scientists will still know them, genetically, as the “polar bear”.)


16 posted on 04/13/2021 7:19:01 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: mylife

Potato planting season is way behind because of the snow they are still getting. Facts don’t matter anymore.


17 posted on 04/13/2021 7:20:05 AM PDT by Newbomb Turk
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To: mylife

“May become...” “If we...” The usual scare=mongering.


18 posted on 04/13/2021 7:22:10 AM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: mylife
Novy says another risk posed by rising temperatures is that more of the potatoes’ starch content will convert to sugar.

Then make vodka.

19 posted on 04/13/2021 7:29:30 AM PDT by SKI NOW
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To: All

“Drier” also means gubmint/activists are closing off irrigation sources (because of Mother earth, ya’ know).


20 posted on 04/13/2021 7:34:16 AM PDT by BipolarBob (Biden/Harris - the regime our Founding fathers warned us about.)
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