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"   There is an old army sitcom trope of erring characters being sentenced to peeling potatoes. But harvesting potatoes? For inmates under the rule of Idaho&amp;#039;s Department of Correction, that&amp;#039;s an opportunity to make money and learn a trade. More from Delish: 7 Recipes for the Delicious Spud For the first time, Idaho potato farms are employing inmates to pick, sort, and pack potatoes during harvest season according to The Wall Street Journal. Though Idaho prisoners have been employed as workers in the processing sheds and kitchens for the past ten years, this will be the first inmate-assisted harvest due to a scarcity of farm labor. Though no potato companies would go on record with the Journal to confirm their involvement with the prison&amp;#039;s work-release programs, public record shows that SunGlo of Idaho Inc., Walters Produce Inc., High Country Potato Inc., and Floyd Wilcox &amp;amp;amp; Sons Inc. all have contracts with the state&amp;#039;s Department of Correction. More from Delish: 15 Fall Harvest Recipes Despite the high unemployment rate in the U.S., farm labor is hard to come by, so farmers across the country have turned to prisons for aid. Georgia cucumber farmers filled 1,100 harvesting positions with paroled prisoners and Alabama has recently announced that its farms will soon employ work-release programs. More from Delish: 100+ Recipes for Autumn&amp;#039;s Bounty The WSJ reports that the inmates are happy to be working in the fields. Most are being paid more than what prisons offer for in-prison work. They are also pleased to learn a useful trade. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/food/news/a38794/idaho-inmates-hired-for-potato-harvest/>