News on The Potato Supply Chain from Northern America

The National Potato Council (NPC) is calling on the Obama Administration and Congress to either reinstate the funding required to continue the pilot program allowing Mexican trucks into a limited area within U.S. border states or to quickly develop an ...

Idaho potato growers have agreed to contract modifications with major processors in an effort to break an impasse with Lamb Weston, a division of ConAgra Foods.Producers voted Tuesday, March 17, to approve changes in the 2009 contracts during a meeting...

Renal specialists have called for clear labeling on products that use potassium chloride as a salt replacer because it could pose a hidden risk for dialysis patients. Potassium chloride has been seen as a potential candidate for salt replacement becaus...

Maine potato growers are thriving thanks to a late blight spraying advice offered by the University of Maine's cooperative extension program.

Leaf samples taken last summer by provincial potato specialists and ag chem firm Bayer CropScience throughout Canada show "widespread"presence of fungi that have mutated to resist the fungicides used most often to control them.The sampling pr...

Competition and market access are the two biggest issues facing the potato industry as it tries to expand exports.“We had been benefiting from having a weak dollar, but that has also made the cost of international programs higher,” said Bart Connors, ...

The potato industry needs innovation to create a long-term rise in demand, U.S. Potato Board President Tim O’Connor said at the group’s annual meeting.“There’s a difference between increasing demand and just getting a temporary sales bump,” O’Connor sa...

The Canola Council of Canada (CCC) today announced a new wave of investment - $350,000 - into research on the role of canola in the prevention and treatment of heart disease and diabetes.The announcement of funding under the Canola Product Research Fun...

Potatoes are for more than just french fries. With the federal government's aid, a nation-wide network of researchers co-ordinated from Fredericton is hoping to develop new uses for spuds - and help Canadian farmers cash in. The federal government is i...

In a case of recent success being no guarantee of future success, potato industry officials are trying to get a message through loud and clear to growers: Don’t plant more spuds than last year.Even keeping acreage right where it is, they say, could be ...

When potato producers plant their seed this spring, they’ll have three new varieties to choose from: Alpine Russet, a very high-yielding, medium- to late-maturing processing potato that has a natural dormancy rivaling Russet Burbank. It can be stored...

The old pattern was that fresh potato growers made healthy profits every sixth year (1989, 1995, 2001). In most other years, according to my research, growers either lost money or broke even.After the 2001 crop was marketed, prices fell for four consec...

Idaho potato farmers are likely to pay more to grow spuds this year than in 2008, despite the recent drop in diesel and nitrogen fertilizer prices."My guess is that the overall cost increase will be somewhere between zero and 5 percent,"said ...

Bell Flavors and Fragrances has introduced a new sodium-reducing flavor technology for use in meats, snacks, condiments and soups, which it claims mimics the flavor of salt without its negative health impacts. ReduxSo is a natural flavor system based o...

Un nuevo estudio sugiere que una sustancia química potencialmente cancerígena presente en algunos alimentos ricos en carbohidratos no elevaría el riesgo de desarrollar tumores mamarios. La sustancia, llamada acrilamida, ganó notoriedad hace varios año...

In sharp contrast to most other sectors, agricultural machinery manufacturers remain positive about 2009. Already, farm debt-to-asset ratios are at an all-time low while farms continue to invest in equipment. Everyone has been cutting back on expen...

Un nuevo estudio realizado en Polonia sobre los efectos sobre la salud de la acrilamida en los alimentos indica que podría aumentar el riesgo de enfermedad cardiovascular, lo que refuerza la idea de que los alimentos que tengan un alto contenido en est...

Lamb Weston, a division of Con-Agra Foods, has decided to grow a larger share of its own potatoes this year through joint ventures or custom-farming arrangements, according to industry officials in Idaho.The move away from traditional contracts with in...