News on Food Trends from Europe

The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) averaged 124.3 points in May 2023, down 3.4 points (2.6 percent) from April and as much as 35.4 points (22.1 percent) from the all-time high it reached in March 2022.

Extreme weather incidents are serving to rock Europe’s potato industry to its very foundations. Last year was actually the second warmest year on record in Europe. The drought conditions resulted in a dramatic downturn in overall potato output.

The Rabobank report on the US Potato Industry anticipates good prices for the remainder of the 2022/23 marketing year, particularly as the year comes to an end before the new crop harvest begins.

A Danish trio of partners is developing super-high-resolution, hyperspectral cameras that can determine the chemical composition of plastic waste and the different additives. The technology will have a huge impact on future plastics recycling.

PepsiCo has unveiled its most sustainable factory in Europe as the industry increasingly recognises the circular economy as a framework to help address global food system challenges.

The Swedish Intellectual Property Office (PRV) has notified Veg of Lund AB that the authority intends to approve the patent application SE 2250375-9 which defines the company’s unique vegetable ice cream alternative.

Una lata de medio kilo de patatas fritas es algo que no pasa desapercibido. Aunque si esta se encuentra medio escondida y forma parte de atrezo de una película surcoreana, dar con ella es casi tan difícil como encontrar una aguja en un pajar.

CNH Industrial and ONE SMART SPRAY, a joint venture between Bosch and BASF, have signed a collaboration agreement to integrate the latter’s advanced spraying system within CNH Industrial’s agricultural brand product portfolios.

McCain Foods, world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products and a global leader in prepared appetisers and snacks, has partnered with Say It Now to launch their first Actionable Audio Ad campaign in Q2 of 2023.

The ware potato activities of Agrico and Nedato, along with Leo de Kock, shall be hived off to form a new independent cooperative of ware potato growers. The new organization will start its activities this autumn. Further integration will then take place in stages.

Extreme weather events pose a significant challenge to potato cultivation. Heat and drought stress reduces productivity, causes physiological defects in tubers, and damages crops.

A new predictive method has shown a way to better select parents for new potato varieties, offering a blueprint for better potatoes and a way to speed up the production of higher yield varieties.

The World Potato Congress (WPC) Inc., through its mission of creating value chain networking within the global potato community, has officially adopted the Declaration of Dublin: Fostering Potato Partnerships for Food Security.

El supermercado Carrefour ha firmado un nuevo acuerdo con la empresa riojana Patatas Rubio, proveedor con el que trabaja en el desarrollo de su marca 'Carrefour Círculo de Calidad'.

El líder español de la patata se queda también con el mayor comercializador de zanahoria del país para crear uno de los mayores grupos de productos hortícolas de Europa. La firma Patatas Hijolusa ha anunciado este lunes la adquisición del 100% de Agrícola Villena, lo que dará lugar a un nuevo conglomerado con una facturación global de alrededor de 200 millones de euros.

The government of the Netherlands wants farmers growing potatoes on sandy soil to harvest potatoes by October 1 and grow intermediary plants that catch nitrogen in the soil so nitrates can not leach out and contaminate groundwater.

HZPC UK, a member of the Royal HZPC Group, a leader in potato varieties and seed production for the entire potato industry in the UK, announced the acquisition of TLC Potatoes, one of Scotland's leading minituber producers.

Defra and UKRI, as part of the Farming Innovation Programme, recently announced funding for 'Potato-LITE' – a multimillion pound project over four years