Chapter 5

Who is J.R. Simplot? What connection does J. R. Simplot have to the fast food industry?

J.R. Simplot was born in 1909 and grew up working on the farm. He dropped out of school in 8th grade. At an early age, he opened his own business called J.R. Simplot Company and started to sell and buy potatoes. Within just a decade, he became the biggest shipper of potatoes in the west and bought as many potato farms as possible. He later found out that he can produce dry potatoes and sell them to food industries, such as McDonald's and this is where he earned big bucks. The connection that J.R. Simplot had with the fast food industry is that he found out how to produce dry potatoes and fast food industries bought them because they can last more and were profitable. So McDonald's started to sell them to costumers and they were the only potatoes that McDonald's used at that time.

How have the potato farms in Idaho changed in the last 25 years or so?

The potato farms in Idaho have changed dramatically in the last twenty-five years because they have lost about half of their potato farmers, however, the land that is made for potatoes has increase. One major difference is that family farms are being taken over by corporate farms. Instead of potatoes being grown naturally, they are now grown in factories and are being produced dry. Also, people who had been forced off their land by corporate farms, have to manage those farms.

Introduction

What are some of the observations about McDonald's made by the author?

Some observations about McDonald's is that it became one of the major icons in the food industry. It expanded so much that it went from one thousand restaurants when it first started to about twenty-eight thousand world wide restaurants. Also, ninety percent of the United States new jobs come from McDonald's. It hires more employees than any other company in the United States. McDonald's is the biggest purchaser of potatoes, pork, and beef in the nation. It also spends a lot of money on marketing and advertising. For example, you can see its logo on basically every street and town centers. It is one of the successful companies out there.

What does the author say about independent farmers?

The author states that more and more independent farmers are disappearing due to large companies hiring these farmers to work for them or the independent farmers are being forced off their own land. Also, farms owned by families are being replaced by huge companies such as Cargill and IBP. There are more prison inmates than independent farmers in the United States.