News on The Potato Supply Chain from Idaho

The Idaho potato harvest has started. For Eagle Eye Produce, the harvest kicked off in central Idaho during the first week of August with their russet potatoes.

Total acres of Idaho’s iconic potato crop could decrease significantly this year as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Although there was a rush on potatoes at grocery stores early on.

With coronavirus severely affecting the potato supply chain, a farm in Idaho is giving away about 2 million potatoes so they don't go to waste. First come, first served.

The Idaho Potato Commission will seek the attorney general's guidance on a funding request by a recently formed association of growers.

Potato virus Y is the most economically important and devastating aphid-transmitted virus, affecting both tuber yield and quality. The virus is also a major cause of seed potato degeneration, which leads to regular flushing out of seed potatoes.

Understanding soil health is a central theme of the 52nd annual Idaho Potato Conference and Trade Show, scheduled for Jan. 22-23 at Idaho State University’s Pond Student Union Building.

With demand for organically-grown produce continuing to increase, Wada Farm Marketing Group LLC in Idaho Falls, ID, made a commitment several years ago to greatly expand its organic offerings across all of its product lines.

The combined complementary footprint of Simplot Grower Solutions and Pinnacle stores will grow to more than 200 locations across North America.

As of November 12, 2019 seed potatoes from Montana and Colorado can be used in the Pacific Northwest chipping and tablestock export programs for South Korea.

The focus for Potandon Produce LLC at the New York Produce Show this year will be on the health benefits of potatoes, and particularly of some of Potandon’s proprietary products.

Spudnik Equipment Company has reached an agreement to buy STC Trailers, according to a recent press release. Terms were not disclosed. Both companies are headquartered in Blackfoot, Idaho. The acquisition will go into effect Jan. 1, 2020.

Ongoing studies at the University of Idaho’s Aberdeen Research & Extension Center seek to help seed potato growers avoid a chronically troublesome disease spread by aphids, called potato virus Y, writes John O’Connell in the Idaho State Journal.

The Idaho Potato Commission has found that the best way to communicate that potatoes are part of an active, healthy lifestyle is to show it. Therefore, the IPC sponsors several athletic programs and events that support and encourage folks to be active.

Giving away the original 6-ton replica Russet Burbank that once toured the nation on its Great Big Idaho Potato Truck is paying major dividends for the Idaho Potato Commission, according to Frank Muir, president and CEO of the organization.

A team of fresh Idaho potato shippers will soon head to Taiwan to develop new business relationships in the Southeast Asian market.

North American potato processors either have or will be bringing at least 1.3 billion pounds of new processing capacity online between October 2018 and December 2019. In Potato Country, Bruce Huffaker of NAPMN discusses the impact.

Potato grower and packer Wilcox Fresh has appointed Justin Reynolds as the company’s new CEO.

Idaho potato farmers are getting paid about the same amount for their spuds as they're investing in raising them, according to a University of Idaho Extension agricultural economist's report, presented during the Idaho Potato Conference.