Potato Industry Turns to AI to Combat Misinformation

The potato industry has found a powerful new ally in its ongoing battle against misinformation. After years of struggling to correct misconceptions about potatoes in the digital space, industry leaders are deploying artificial intelligence to help set the record straight.

“Right now, it’s working on Twitter, but we’re now expanding that out to other platforms as well,” explains Blair Richardson, President and CEO of Potatoes USA. “We’ll be looking at Reddit, Instagram, Facebook initially, and then over time, even more platforms. Currently, it’s all in a test stage. It’s pulling the data in and gives us examples of responses that it would generate.”

The AI system scans social media platforms for potato-related misinformation and can generate appropriate, factual responses. This technology represents a significant advancement in how agricultural commodity groups manage their online presence and public perception.

Richardson acknowledges the substantial upfront investment but emphasizes the long-term value proposition. “The initial investment is about half a million dollars,” he notes. “Once it’s created, there’s an ongoing operational cost to collect the data and pay for the computational power that is used to run the system. That runs around $75,000 to $100,000 a year.”

Despite these costs, Richardson believes the technology will prove cost-effective compared to traditional approaches. “As time goes on, that’s less than the cost of a communications specialist in today’s world. I think that it will be an exponential return on investment that we keep generating over many years.”

The potato industry’s move reflects a broader trend across agriculture, where AI applications are becoming increasingly common. From drone technology that monitors crop health to precision agriculture systems that optimize resource use, technological innovation continues to transform farming practices.

For the potato sector specifically, misinformation can have real economic consequences. Consumer misconceptions about nutritional value, growing practices, or environmental impact can influence purchasing decisions and market demand. The industry has long worked to promote potatoes as a nutritious, versatile food source, but keeping pace with the rapid spread of misinformation online has proven challenging.

The AI system represents a scalable approach to this problem. Rather than having communications staff manually identify and respond to misinformation—an impossible task given the volume of social media content—the AI can continuously monitor conversations and flag problematic content for review.

While still in its testing phase, early results appear promising. The technology can identify nuanced discussions about potatoes and generate responses that address specific misconceptions with accurate information.

This initiative comes at a time when agricultural sectors are increasingly recognizing the importance of digital communication. The pandemic accelerated online food purchasing and recipe sharing, making accurate digital information more important than ever for commodity groups.

Other agricultural sectors are watching the potato industry’s AI experiment closely. If successful, similar systems could be deployed across other commodity groups facing their own battles with online misinformation.

For Potatoes USA, the investment represents a strategic shift in how they approach communication. Rather than solely focusing on creating original content, they’re now actively engaging with and correcting existing conversations—a necessary adaptation to today’s digital landscape where misinformation can spread rapidly across platforms.

As Richardson suggests, the return on investment extends beyond just correcting individual instances of misinformation. By consistently providing accurate information across platforms, the industry hopes to gradually improve overall consumer understanding and perception of potatoes, potentially driving long-term demand growth and market stability.