News on The Potato Supply Chain from the United States

Potatoes USA, the marketing and promotion board for the U.S. potato industry, elected new leadership during the Annual Meeting on March 11, 2021. The newly elected Chairman and Executive Committee will lead the Board through 2021-2022.

The Boards of Directors of the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh) have reached an Agreement in Principle to create a new global trade association combining their resources and expertise.

The National Potato Council(NPC) and 26 leading food and agriculture associations have expressed concerns over the rapid deterioration of the trade relationship between the United States and Mexico

Double L, a prominent manufacturer of farm equipment in the Intermountain West, announced today it has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by a group of Idaho investors, creating opportunities for growth.

The National Potato Council (NPC), which represents America’s $4.5 billion potato industry, welcomed last week's bipartisan 247-174 vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

The National Potato Council (NPC) welcomed yesterday’s reintroduction of the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and urges its rapid passage in the House of Representatives.

Jake Blauer is the newly hired post-harvest potato physiologist at Washington State University.

At the National Potato Council (NPC) 2021 Annual Meeting held virtually due to travel restrictions, Dominic LaJoie of Van Buren, Maine was elected to serve as NPC’s 2021 President and to head the grower-led organization’s Executive Committee.

On February 17, 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court released a draft ruling that would overturn a 2017 lower court decision preventing the Mexican federal government from implementing regulations to allow the import of fresh US potatoes throughout the country.

United States potato exports continue to recover but remain behind previous year levels. Exports for the first six months of the marketing year, July – December 2020, are behind the record levels set in 2019.

Bill Guenthner of Guenthner Farms was elected WPVGA Board President for 2021. The WPVGA Associate Division Board of Directors elected Chris Brooks of Central Door Solutions to be its President for 2021. The WSPIA Board of Directors elected J.D. Schroeder of Schroeder Bros. Farms, President for 2021.

Long-time potato and vegetable growers Norm and Marv Worzella of Worzella & Sons, Inc., Plover, Wisconsin, were inducted into the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association Hall of Fame at the industry’s annual awards ceremony held February 3, 2021.

In the end, 2020 was a pretty good year for Idaho’s iconic potato industry, but it sure wasn’t easy.

With the inauguration of US President Biden a week behind us now, Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council discusses what the impact of the new administration on the potato industry might be.

From January 5-7, more than 1,000 U.S. and international potato industry members joined the first-ever virtual Potato Expo. The annual event that kicks off the year for the industry, was brought online for the first time in response to the travel challenges imposed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Genetically distinct from its European counterparts, this coastal Alaska potato predates modern taste for russets and Yukon Golds.

Record potato retail sales continued from October to December 2020, the second quarter of Potatoes USA’s marketing year 2021. All three months saw an increase in both dollar and volume sales, with the largest growth in December.

Given the unusual times of a global pandemic, the Idaho Potato Conference shifted from the annual in-person conference held in Pocatello to three days of virtual presentations.