Go ahead and roll your eyes, but state Sen. David G. Argall's recent legislative proposal to sack weight requirements for packaging potatoes is gaining steam.

The proposed legislation, SB 1131, cleared the Senate Tuesday, and is now headed to the House.The weight restrictions need to be lifted, Argall said."This is the type of bureaucratic red tape that greatly frustrates the people I've been elected to represent. It's time to relieve our farmers and our consumers of these old restrictions on potato packaging," he says."It's a competitive thing. We're getting left out," says Roger L. Springer, general manager for Pennsylvania Cooperative Potato Growers.Argall's bill would let growers, from mass producers to small fries, sell their spuds in bags of any weight instead of the current required weights of less than three pounds, three pounds, five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 100 and multiples of 100 pounds.The matter is no small potatoes: The state is 18th in the nation for potato production. Its 9,000 acres of potato fields produce 2.2 billion pounds of spuds a year a $37.5 million business, says Joel Rotz of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.New trendGrowers say eight-pound bags, which are sold in neighboring New York and Maryland, are trending in popularity."We looked at data that we received from the U.S. Potato Board that shows the sale of 10 pound bags have stagnated in markets across the U.S., where as the sale of eight pound bags of russet potatoes is a growing SKU (stock keeping unit). This is a bag size which is unable to be used within Pennsylvania. This also means that retailers that span multiple states are not able to use the 8- pound SKU within Pennsylvania and still need to carry the 10-pound SKU, which they may want to phase out because the market trends," says Julie Ballay, co-owner of Schuylkill County potato grower Sterman Masser Inc."It's a competitive thing. we're getting left out," says Roger L. Springer, general manager for Pennsylvania Cooperative Potato Growers.Richard Tallman of Tallman Brothers Farms in Tower City, Schuylkill County, whose farm sells 40 million pounds of potatoes each year, puts it simply."Shopping is all about choices among offerings. We are not offering what customers may want or need," he says.So, Argall has been chipping away at the weight law. In October, he introduced his legislation, SB 1131, that would scrub the requirements. State Rep. Mike Tobash, R-Schuylkill, introduced the same proposal in the House.The proposed legislation was prompted by a request from Sterman Masser, which produces about 280 million pounds of potatoes a year."The change in the law would benefit the consumer, more so than potato growers and packers in general. The request derived from the current economic conditions among consumers and trends that we are seeing as an industry, particularly in states that do not have the same bag size restrictions that Pennsylvania has," Ballay says.Half-baked ideaArgall believes the current weight law is half-baked."I'm encouraged by the prompt action by the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee to advance this issue. My goal is to get this signed by the governor sooner rather than later to eliminate this onerous red tape facing consumers and farmers alike. Everyone I talk to agrees: The state has no reason to regulate how big a bag of potatoes should be," he says.Tallman agrees."The present law limits our offerings to a very short list of package sizes and restricts the industry from changing the package size to meet the demographic for a particular area. We cannot experiment with other package sizes that may improve sales," he says."And, remember, the farmer pays for the development, artwork, plates, and packaging so the risk is all theirs. The law restricts choices in the marketplace," he said.The proposal also has the support of one of Pennsylvania's major supermarket chains."I believe that our customers would benefit from the additional options they would have with smaller bags," says Eric B. White of Redner's Markets. "As consumer shopping habits have changed and the larger bags are not as ideal for some customers, the smaller bags present them with the option to purchase exactly what they need and have little or no waste. As with any consumable good, the more options we have to offer always presents a favorable position for the consumer."Tallman says the time is ripe for change."Pennsylvania's present law was applicable and acceptable for a different time when families were larger and each household consumed greater quantities of potatoes to feed larger families. Household sizes have changed as there are fewer persons in the average household," he says. "Eating habits have changed as there are fewer meals eaten at home. Cooking habits have changed as meals prepared at home move toward whatever is fast and easy and the preparation of large quantities of any thing is a 'production'. Lastly, people are trying not to waste food so purchases are trending toward buying only what is needed which translates into smaller packages. It is time for the law to change."