The Economics of Storing West Texas Potatoes

Abstract

Growers in the West Texas area have attempted to determine whether privately owned grower storage facilities would be economically viable. This paper discusses storage goals, investment decision criteria, storage design, and  investigates the costs of storing potatoes produced in the West Texas area. Results indicate that fresh market prices generally do not rise enough to cover the costs of storage in a typical year. The analysis is done using two methods, a break-even analysis and the Rister, Skees and Black storage model, and the results are consistent.