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WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 15 T here are a lot of things in our modern world that we often simply accept as a matter of fact, without a thought as to how they made their way to us. We could wax on about any number of contemporary niceties, but for the moment, let's take a page out of How It's Made's book and focus on something that has aided mankind (with very little need for technological advancement) for centuries: chains. As this is a magazine about potatoes and agriculture, we make no claim to being chain manufacturing experts, so we'll keep this particular analogy short. A quick YouTube search proves enlight- ening: Though manufactured mostly by robots today, heavy chain is forged in much the same way as it was 150 years ago. Along its journey from thick wire to actual links of chain, steel is heated and cooled to extreme temperatures no fewer than three times to attain the nec- essary levels of strength and flexibility. As we've seen over the last year or two, taken-for-granted supply chains can experience their own periods of tempering. Where shortcuts have been taken or issues overlooked, it may take more effort to repair broken links than in other places. But where the supply chain has been carefully watched over and planned for, all the twists and kinks and knots in the world can be straight- ened out and worked through. The potato industry, of course, has faced plenty of supply chain issues, and not just from the farm to the consum- er's plate. On-farm inputs, particularly chemical products, have seemingly always been more or less easy to come by. Not so in 2022. Any particular product for potatoes (and other crops) has to take a lot of steps from concept to application. Active and inert ingredi- ents need to be acquired and properly formulated. Manufacturing, packaging and transportation each carries its own, often complicated logistics. Trans-Pacif- ic freight costs have risen as availability has fallen, and domestic transport and labor issues have in many instances exacerbated those problems. Amid all this, however, AMVAC Chemical Corporation has proven to be a reliable supplier to potato growers across North America. "AMVAC certainly is not immune to the global supply chain disruption