They would look the same whether they were sold on Jersey shore or in a drive through in Idaho. The potatoes would grow in the dry volcanic soil of the inland pacific North West, then be washed, sliced, cooked and frozen in factories in this region before being shipped to fast food outlets from sea to shining sea. The combination of cheap federal hydro-electrical and irrigation water made this desert region perfect for the operation and by the mid 1980's more than 6 million lbs of potatoes were being processed by ten big factories owned by different companies in the Columbian river basin providing America with most of its french fries. But the process of making one fry look exactly like another has come at a big cost according to a new report on the potato processing industry. We've got a uniform french fry, but it came with a lot of hidden costs.
Industrial leaders say much of the criticism is wrong or misleading.
They say they have cleaned up many of the environmental problems, investing millions of dollars to better dispose of the water used to wash and cook a perfect fry. They say they provide more than 4000 year round jobs, among the best paying in the low skill farm sector. And they say they have kept alive rural communities that otherwise might have had severe unemployment and a declining tax base. The french fry producers here have prospered in part because of public works projects that provide cheap electrical power and bring water to what was once an unpopulated desert. More than 50 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt envisioned the Columbian Basin as a haven for Dust Bowl refugees who could farm the desert with the help of irrigation water provided by federal dams and reservoirs.