Low-Carb Craze Causes Potato Pileup

[Demi]

BISMARCK, N.D. -- North Dakota farmers are hoping a nationwide campaign to counter the low-carbohydrate diet fad will help shrink their growing stocks of potatoes.

Growers, dealers and processors in the state had the equivalent of 11.2 million 100-pound bags of spuds on hand on April 1 -- up 42 percent from the previous year and a record level for the date. U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show the stocks represented 41 percent of production.

While some of the increase in stocks is due to a bigger crop last year, a drop in demand also is a factor.

Help may be on the way, though.

The U.S. Potato Board is launching a campaign aimed at promoting the healthy aspects of potatoes. A spokesman for the group said low-carb programs such as the Atkins Diet have affected potato sales.


http://www.wesh.com/food/3034255/detail.html

[JayRob]

Well, feed them extra taters to the hogs and I'll eat the hogs. Problem solved.

[cc48510]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_depolymerization

Thermal depolymerization is a process for the reduction of complex organic materials (usually waste products of various sorts) into light crude oil. It mimics the natural geological processes thought to be involved in the production of fossil fuels. Under pressure and heat, long chain polymers of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon decompose into short-chain petroleum hydrocarbons with a maximum length of around 18 carbons.
...
Until recently the human process was not efficient enough to serve as a practical source of fuel - more energy was required than was produced. However, a new approach was developed by Illinois microbiologist Paul Baskis in the 1980s and refined over the next fifteen years that exceeded break-even. The technology was finally developed for commercial use in 1996 by Changing World Technologies. A demonstration plant was completed in 1999 in Philadelphia, and the first full-scale commercial plant was constructed in Carthage, Missouri, about 100 yards (100 m) from ConAgra Foods' massive Butterball Turkey plant, where it will process 200 tons of turkey waste a day.
...
The feedstock material is first ground into small chunks, and mixed with water if it is especially dry. It is then fed into a reaction chamber where it is heated to around 250°C and subjected to 600 psi (4 MPa) for approximately 15 minutes, after which the pressure is rapidly released to boil off most of the water. The result is a mix of crude hydrocarbons and solid minerals, which are separated out. The hydrocarbons are sent to a second-stage reactor where they are heated to 500°C, further breaking down the longer chains, and the resulting petroleum is then distilled in a manner similar to conventional oil refining.

Working with turkey offal as the feedstock, the process proved to have yield efficiencies of approximately 85%; in other words, the energy required to process materials could be supplied by using 15% of the petroleum output. Alternately, one could consider the energy efficiency of the process to be 560% (85 units of energy produced for 15 units of energy consumed). Higher efficiencies may be possible with drier and more carbon-rich feedstocks, such as waste plastic.

[Kristine]

Hey potato farmers: grow cauliflower instead.

[arc]

Bio-fuel!! (along with the corn and wheat we don't need to eat)

[steveed]

Hey,
Everyone had that school project where they made a battery out of a potato...kinda like a "potato" Matrix? Yeah! Thats it!
Idaho has the next big oil fields of the future!

[Nancy LC]

LOL! I was thinking the same thing. Either that or building potato launchers and using them as munitions.