The cost of potato chips has risen across the nation over the last decade, but inflation isn’t the only key culprit in its exorbitant price increase.
A bag of one of America’s favorite pantry staples has increased by a little over 50 percent over the last 10 years. While the average price of 16-ounce bag was $4.27 in 2015, one can now find themselves spending at least $6.47 on the crunchy treat.
While some undoubtedly blame inflation, they are missing a key factor in the skyrocketing price.
‘You’re trying to grow a crop, and the crop is sensitive to weather and water conditions,’ Bob Leiby, who spent his career as the Lehigh County Extension Director focused on potato farmers, told The Allegheny Front.
‘If it’s a month of high temperatures, a potato crop will stop growing and not come back.’
Unprecedented hot temperatures has been plaguing states across the country, including the top two potato-growing states in the US as farmers have seen the rising climate stifle results year-round.
Idaho has remained as the largest potato producer in the nation, growing roughly 13 billion pounds of the crop each year, according to Idaho Potato.
However, the northwestern mountainous state recorded 2024 as its third-warmest year in history since 1896, as several areas across its terrain experienced an average temperature hitting nearly 83 degrees in July and an average of just over 77 degrees all summer, KTVB News reported.
The cost of potato chips has risen across the nation over the last decade – not only due to inflation, but due temperatures plaguing top-growing states over the last few years
While the average price of a 16-ounce bag of potato chips was $4.27 in 2015, one can now find themselves spending at least $6.47 on the crunchy treat
Washington, the second-largest potato producer in the country, recorded its 15th warmest year in history. In July of 2024, the state hit 100 degrees for the first time in nearly eight years, The Washington Post reported.
Last year, which has been recorded as the warmest year on record globally, also affected several areas in Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Reading, according to PBS.
The Earth’s rising temperatures has created issues for the northeastern state, which is home to the highest number of potato chip factories of any US state in a region referred to as the ‘Pennsylvania Snack Belt.’
‘Pennsylvania is known as the snack food capital of the world,’ Nathan Tallman, the CEO of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Potato Growers, told The Allegheny Front.
‘And we have more potato chip factories than any other state in the Union.’
There are many land-filled areas of Pennsylvania that are suitable for potato farming, especially in the northwestern part of the state where the climate is cooler and cloudier and the soil is sandy and well-drained.
It’s also cheaper to ship potatoes from farms in Pennsylvania than from other areas in the country.
The state’s chipmakers often import the crop from Florida, Michigan, Ontario and other places in the northwest – all areas that are less hilly, have bigger patches of land, a longer growing season and large-scale mechanized irrigation systems.
Potatoes grow best when they are living through daytime temperatures of 60 to 65 degrees and will completely stop growing once the soil hits 85 degrees
Idaho, which remains as the largest potato producer in the nation growing roughly 13 billion pounds of the crop each year, recorded 2024 as its third-warmest year in history since 1896 with an average temperature of around 77 degrees all summer
Washington, the second-largest potato producer in the country, has also felt the effects of problems within potato farms as it recorded 2024 as its 15th warmest year in history
However, the insanely rising climate temperatures has made those same areas less suitable for farming, making potato supply diminish across the state.
‘We’ve been seeing quite a bit of that,’ Leiby told The Allegheny Front. ‘When you have days that are sunny and temperatures in the low 90s, it’s easy to get soil temperatures way up out of the range that tubers will even continue to grow.’
Potatoes grow best when they are living through daytime temperatures of 60 to 65 degrees. The crop will completely stop growing once the soil hits 85 degrees.
In many parts of Pennsylvania, there have been a record number of hot afternoons that hit at least 85 degrees or above in recent decades, according to the Pennsylvania State Climatologist at Penn State University.
Lancaster County, one of the top potato-growing areas in the state, has experienced 15 additional days that hit 90 degrees or above each year – creating more than two additional weeks of high temperatures, The Allegheny Front reported.
‘Nighttime temperatures, below 57 degrees are also very important,’ Leiby added.
Yet areas such as Erie County, which is known to be the state’s best region to grow potatoes, has had to manage an increasing number of warm nights over the last few years.
The region has had 15 additional nights since the 1980s where the lowest temperature recorded was still warmer than 65 degrees, making the area almost impossible to flourish in potato farming.
Pennsylvania, which is home to the highest number of potato chip factories of any US state in a region referred to as the ‘Pennsylvania Snack Belt,’ often import the crop from Florida, Michigan, Ontario and other places in the northwest, which has become increasingly expensive
It’s becoming unsustainable for snack manufacturers in Pennsylvania, also known as the ‘snack food capital of the world,’ to keep relying on the product from other areas
The potato chip industry is certainly bearing the effects, as it’s becoming unsustainable for snack manufacturers in Pennsylvania to keep relying on the product from other areas, such as those in Florida and the northwest part of the US.
‘Do they have the water to sustainably use to grow all those potatoes indefinitely out West?’ Walter DeJong, a professor at Cornell University, asked The Allegheny Front.
‘I think the answer to that is no,’ he stated. ‘There’s increasing water use issues in the West.’
DeJong knew that a growing number of areas across the globe where experiencing the effects of climate change, and therefore, experiencing growing issues with their farming.
He also knew that the country needed a scientific new breakthrough to keep the potato industry alive.
‘If the climate is changing, and changing kind of rapidly, we have to develop potatoes that are adapted to the new climate,’ DeJong said.
Back in 2011, DeJong developed the Lamoka at Cornell, which is a potato named after the Lamoka Lake in New York State. Its development changed the reliance that many suppliers have on western-grown potatoes.
His goal was originally to breed a new potato chip that would maintain a light color when fried, but through its development, he found another unexpected yet beneficial trait.
Walter DeJong, a professor at Cornell University, developed the Lamoka potato back in 2011, which changed the reliance that many suppliers have on western-grown potatoes
Lamoka potatoes allowed growers in Pennsylvania to harvest their crop in the fall, store them through the cold winter months and then sell them to chip-makers come spring and is the most popular potato to produce chips with in the US
Lamoka potatoes allowed growers in Pennsylvania to harvest their crop in the fall, store them through the cold winter months and then sell them to chip-makers come spring.
‘Before Lamoka came out, if you were a chipping plant in Pennsylvania and you wanted to make potato chips beyond mid-April. you had to get potatoes from Florida,’ DeJong said.
‘So there was a lot of shipping cost involved in bringing potatoes up from Florida.’
Shipping costs, however, is only one aspect of the rising potato chip prices following climate issues on farms.
The price of cooking oil, fertilizer, labor and land are also counted in the mix.
Yet DeJong still finds importance in maintaining local potato production – even if it means high-priced potato chips – especially after the Covid pandemic created food shortages across the country.
‘Potatoes produced out West may be cheaper, but there is some societal value for those disaster years to have production in the northeast as well,’ he added.
Either way, Lomoka potatoes are currently the most popular potato to produce chips with in the US. Additionally, the developed crop allows farmers to avoid diseases and parasites.
Shipping costs, however, is only one aspect of the rising potato chip prices following climate issues on farms as the price of cooking oil, fertilizer, labor and land are also counted in the mix
Climate change is affecting crops across the nation, as the grown products are suffering from higher temperatures and drought conditions over the last few years.
The answer to the food industry’s potato chip problem seems to lie within combating the changing weather and the development of innovative breakthroughs.
Though the big question still remains unanswered – will consumers not only see the value but be willing to pay the price?
