It’s official. Oregon has a state vegetable

This week Oregon got its official state vegetable.

After some minor controversy, the potato was officially recognized as Oregon’s first vegetable.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 passed in June 2023, but the dedication of a plaque naming the potato Oregon’s official veggie took place at the State Capitol in Salem on Monday.

That’s right. The potato.

But what, people asked back when the resolution was first introduced, about Idaho? Surely that’s the real potato state.

Not so fast, said the Oregon Potato Commission, noting in a press release that “potatoes are the number one vegetable produced in the state and an important economic driver.”

The organization began lobbying for the potato to the become state vegetable back in 2018, after learning that Oregon had no official vegetable.

Previous efforts to make the onion Oregon’s state vegetable were unsuccessful.

“More than 2.7 billion pounds of potatoes are grown annually” in Oregon, according to a statement in support of Senate Resolution 3 in 2023 submitted by Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena. The statement went on to note that the state is responsible for “nearly 25% of all french fries exported from the U.S.”

Oregon is also where the tater tot was invented.

Idaho does remain the top potato producer in the country, producing around 13 billion pounds of potatoes each year, according to the Idaho Potato Commission.

Attendees at Monday’s dedication enjoyed french fries – not tots – that were provided by Lamb Weston’s French Fry Cart.