Potato growers are getting a very thin piece of the benefit-of-return pie, according to recent figures compiled by the USDA.
Fresh potato growers are getting 60 cents of the average $3.56 made on a 10-pound bag of potatoes. That represents a 17 percent cut.
Growers of processed potatoes used for french fries get 10 cents of the 94-cent sales price for one pound of frozen product. That represents an 11 percent return.
Chip growers received about 33 cents of the $1.95 price for a one-pound bag. That represents a 17 percent return.
The grower return figures do not include his production expenses, costs that have already been included in the prices received by the second and third handlers of his product, the report was careful to point out.