News on The Potato Supply Chain from Canada

The 2018 edition of the International Potato Technology Expo welcomed professionals from across North America back to the Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown this past Friday and Saturday.

Terrence McEachern of the Guardian spoke with Romana Roberts and Chris Hunt of PEI Potato Solutions on the Sherlock Separator they recently installed for the removal of foreign objects and defects, such as surface scabs or rot.

Potato growers and industry members gathered in Fredericton for the Potato Selection Release Open House on Wednesday to learn what new varieties are available for trial that could improve yields and taste – including the varieties used to make French fries.

The Government of Canada supports the investment in a Sherlock Separator potato sorter by RWL Holdings LTD (PEI Potato Solutions), a potato washing and sorting facility to optimize potatoes for processing prior to delivery to Cavendish Farms.

Chemicals in the leaves of potato plants, produced naturally by the plant, may hold the key to a new way to control Colorado potato beetles - a major pest for potato growers.

David Thompson steps down as President and CEO of the World Potato Congress Inc. and announces Romain Cools as new President and CEO.

McCain Foods Global Vice President for Agronomy Ghislain Pelletier shared his vision for the future of the potato industry with Island growers during the recent annual meeting of the PEI Potato Board.

The Prince Edward Island Potato Board has a new Chairman as a result of its December 4th Board of Directors meeting.

The government of Canada last week announced a $1.8 million investment in a research project at the University of British Columbia that includes the development of beneficial management practices for increasing the efficiency of fertilizer use in potatoes.

S-Scan Farms of Scandia, Alberta was named the McCain 2016 Crop Year Champion Potato Grower for the McCain Coaldale plant

Fiskel Farms of Carberry, Manitoba was named the McCain 2016 Crop Year Champion Potato Grower for the McCain Manitoba plants during the annual Growers’ Appreciation Banquet held at Canad Inns in Portage la Prairie.

The PEI Potato Industry is excited to release for the first time a thirty second commercial highlighting the industry.

French Fry manufacturer Cavendish Farms officially opened its new state-of-the-art potato storage facility in New Annan, Prince Edward Island with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

For the first time, evidence of the zebra chip pathogen has been found in potato fields in southern Alberta, but the University of Lethbridge’s Dr. Dan Johnson cautions against panic.

Harvest time has arrived for Prince Edward Island potato farmers! It’s a busy and exciting time of year, when farmers put in long hours to harvest their crop after working hard throughout the growing season to nurture and protect their world famous PEI Potatoes.

The hot late September weather in large parts of Eastern Canada is putting some potato farmers in a difficult position.

A Cuban delegation visited the main seed potato companies in Quebec in early August, organized by Progest 2001 Inc.

Lakeside Farms Ltd. of Greenfield was named the 2016-2017 McCain Champion Potato Grower for Florenceville-Bristol, NB during the 44th Annual McCain Growers’ Banquet held August 23 at the Northern Carleton Civic Centre.