Agriculture in Idaho potatoes. Idaho is the number one producer of potatoes in the nation and contributes to 32% of the country's production. Idaho has nearly 25,000 farms and ranches spread over 11.8 million acres of land that produces more than 185 different commodities. The state's production ranks in the top ten in the nation in nearly 30 of the commodities it produces. Idaho has three approved wine-grape growing regions, or American Viticulture Areas (AVA), located throughout the state: There are roughly 168 farms in Idaho that produce organic commodities. In 2015, 95,739 acres of cropland and 71,443 acres of pasture/rangeland produced $85,014,000
Instant mashed potatoes particular have been freeze-dried since at least the time of the Inca empire, in the form of chuño; another example is in Japanese Ainu cuisine. , titled "Dehydrate Potatoes and Process of Preparing the Same", and describing a product that was to be reconstituted in hot water, was applied for in 1905 and granted in 1912. Flake-form instant mashed potatoes date back at least to 1954, when two United States Department of Agriculture researchers were issued a patent for "Drum drying of cooked mashed potatoes" (), which describes the end product specifically being "as a thin sheet or flake". In