News on Potatoes in Retail

Potatoes are becoming more appealing to Australia’s innovative home chefs ('Eager Explorers') who are searching for the next exciting food trend, according to new consumer research.

The new season’s fingerling potato crop looks outstanding for Heyburn, Idaho’s Southwind Farms. The company reports excellent quality, consistent sizing, and good yields.

RPE Inc. is introducing Oddball Organics™, a new brand for organic potatoes that do not fit the standard.

This year's major news of the Texas A&M Potato Breeding Program is a new early potato variety called Reveille Russet, a russet baking potato headed to the fresh market.

The Prince Edward Island Potato Industry '... hasn't focused on the belly aching, financial or emotional challenges...' resulting from the potato tampering incidents, that are still unresolved. 'Instead food safety has continued to be the highest priority ...' says Greg Donald, general manager of the P.E.I. potato board.

Experts fear that in Scotland the combination of scaled back potato planting and a drop in yield due to wet weather could lead to a shortage of potatoes.

Consumer research in Australia, Potato Tracker, has shown that Australian consumers prefer to purchase pre-packaged potatoes, with one to two kilogram packages as the ideal sizes.

The most recent report of a metal object found in a bag of potatoes appears to be of a different nature than previous incidents, say RCMP and the P.E.I. Potato Board.potato bag in which watch strap pin was found

Northern Ireland Potato Packer Glens of Antrim Potatoes has expanded with a second factory and new packaging machinery in a £1.25 million investment with potential to create five more jobs.

It appears that many Australians don’t know their King Edwards from their Kennebecs, with the latest wave of the Potato Tracker consumer research project indicating that some people can’t name a single variety of potato, despite being the most commonly purchased vegetable commodity.

The new ‘purple bliss’ potato (grown in Tasmania and bred in Idaho) could become a family favourite now that it has begun producing commercial quantities, and 20 tonnes are making their way to supermarket shelves.

United States Potato Board Chief Marketing Officer, John Toaspern, has issued the following statement regarding the recent news longtime USPB Retail Marketing Consultant, Don Ladhoff, has joined Black Gold Farms after the expiration of his contract with the USPB

Texas-based MountainKing Potatoes has launched its 2015 summer merchandising program aimed at encouraging retailers to create eye-catching displays capturing the experience of summer grilling featuring the company’s Steakhouse Roasters.

The potato industry within Australia needs to come together to develop a plan and make potatoes appealing again from a marketing perspective, to solve the oversupply issues plaguing the industry. That is the message from grower Tony Cummaudo, of Cummaudo Farms.

The potato industry in Prince Edward Island has opted to increase the value of the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the iindividual(s) responsible for the deliberate insertion of metal objects into potatoes up to $500,000 until August 15th, 2015.

A federal judge has signed off on a $25 million settlement in a lawsuit between wholesale grocers and US potato farming associations accused of forming a price-fixing cartel.

Prince Edward Island potato bags have received a makeover. The goal is to convince more Island potato producers to go with the industry bags rather than their own individual brands.

Tasteful Selections™ inspires consumers to rescue moments and spend more quality time with family by creating delicious time-saving potato recipes with useful cooking tips.