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.