Potato chips are a widely-known snack in the United States. You can always find them in any store you visit.  

Companies are massively profitable thanks to how delicious they are. Chips are a relatively simple snack, which is why many people love them so much.

They can come in many sizes and flavors, but the moment you buy a bag and open it, you realize that half the bag is just air. Are the companies scamming you? Surprisingly, no; there’s a reason for all of that air. 

When chips are mass produced, any bag can go stale or be crushed very easily. To prevent this, companies made a solution. According to myrecipes, to preserve chips from being stale, the bags are filled with nitrogen to keep the chips fresh. 

But why do we see so little chips in the bag? 

When opening any bag, about half of a chip bag is just air and you don’t see any chips. This can give you the feeling of being scammed.

The answer is more complicated than you think. It’s not just companies being greedy, it also has to deal with other problems. One issue is the shortage of potatoes. 

In the past, there were plenty of potatoes to grow and there wasn’t any shortage. However, due to wildfires, droughts, and climate change, potatoes have been dwindling in supply.

According to TheColdWire, a lack of farmers and high demand for fertilizer had worsened the situation. 

Because of conflict in Europe, ammonia production was put to a stop. Ammonia is needed in producing fertilizer. Without it, the price for fertilizer has now grown and only farmers with more money to spend can afford it. 

With not enough fertilizer and potatoes, companies will now have to pay more in order to produce more chips. Which will cause prices to rise. 

Overall, the future is not great and the problems will get worse, but hopefully we can get through it.