McCain Foods decided to temporarily suspend a USD300m expansion of a plant in the Adams County community of Othello, US, that would have produced French fries from potatoes grown on 11,000 acres, according to Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington Potato Commission.

The Associated Press reports that without a major reversal of demand, 1 billion pounds of Washington potatoes — 10% of last year’s USD845m crop — could still be piled up in warehouses later this summer as the new crop starts to be harvested. The federal Agriculture Department in April announced a USD19bn coronavirus emergency program that includes provisions to buy farmers crops and make them available to those in need. But it is uncertain how much of a dent that federal spending will make in the huge potato surplus, and some could end up being discarded on a scale never seen before in the Pacific Northwest.

The expansion was to add another 170,000 sq. ft. to the existing plant and include a state-of-the-art battered and conventional French fry processing line. The new capital injection by McCain was set to create an additional 180 jobs in the community.

The added capacity required an approximate 11,000 acres, sourced from local potato growers in the region. It followed a similar expansion in Burley, Idaho to service the U.S. and global markets.