Oregon Public Broadcasting

Ted Tschirky stands in his newly planted potato field. Spring planting is getting underway in the Columbia Basin in Eastern Washington.

Under the sparkling sun, Ted Tschirky watches a tractor pulling a potato planter in his field.It burns around his 100-acre irrigated circle depositing potatoes with a shot of fertilizer. Neat furrows ripple behind the tractor like wakes off speed boats.

Tschirky says he'll plant at least 1,000 acres of spuds this spring. But that's about 10 percent less than he usually does. And his prices are down about 12 percent too. The soft spoken grower says process potato prices follow the economy.Ted Tschirky: “The people aren't eating as many French fries and they are watching what they are spending their money on. And they are just being real cautious. I don't think they are buying anything extra at this time.”Tschirky says he'll just try to keep his costs down to make it through. He's hoping for a quality crop and good yields per acre when he harvests this loamy field in October.