If you’re a fan of the spud, you’re in luck.
Potato farmers from across P.E.I have joined forces to send about 50,000 pounds of Island spud to Fort McMurray.
The tractor-trailer loaded with 20 pallets of potatoes valued at about $30,000 will leave Wednesday.
‘Islanders here, a lot of our friends, relatives, neighbours, you know that actually have moved out there or actually are travelling back and forth and working there so it was even more important that we could do something to help,” Greg Donald, General Manager of the PEI Potato Board told MyMcMurray.
The response from the farmers was both overwhelming and swift.
“We’re at the tail end of our marketing year here the new crop’s in the ground and I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to get enough potatoes for a tractor trailer load but I put word out and some other folks in our team did and I’m going to say within a few hours we had enough potatoes on pallets to fill a tractor trailer load,” he said.
The potatoes will be distributed through the Food Bank and the Salvation Army to ensure they go to families in need.
Donald said his favourite way to cook a spud is a classic.
“I just like a good old baked potato and there’s nothing better than a good, baked, russet potato from PEI,” he said.
It’s expected to take about eight days for the potatoes to make their way to McMurray.
