Colorado Potato Fun Facts
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- Colorado is the second largest fresh potato growing region in the entire United States!
- There are over 70 unique varieties of Colorado potatoes!
- Many Colorado potatoes are grown in the San Luis Valley which is the largest alpine valley on Earth! This valley sits at 7,600 feet above sea level-which is almost a mile and a half!
- Many Colorado potatoes are also grown around Greeley, which is near the Denver area!
- 50,000 to 65,000 acres of potatoes are planted in Colorado each year! That’s around 78 square miles, or enough to cover all of Washington D.C. (68 mi2) in potato fields, and then some!
- Potatoes have been farmed in Colorado since 1875. In that year, Ulysses S. Grant was president, and the very first recorded hockey game and Kentucky Derby happened.
- The estimated value of Colorado potatoes produced in 2014 was $214,802,000. That’s a stack of money that’s over 14 miles high! That’s more than 2 times as high as Mount Everest!
- An average of 7.5 million pounds of potatoes are produced Colorado every day! That’s equivalent to 300 school buses (avg. school bus weighing 25,000 lbs.)! That’s approximately 2.3 billion pounds of potatoes every year, or 92,000 school buses!
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