News on The Potato Supply Chain from the Americas

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Soil erosion, a natural process exacerbated by human activities, poses a significant challenge to agricultural sustainability worldwide. This relentless force gradually strips away fertile topsoil, leaving a devastating impact on farmers and the environment.

The Mart Group, an Idaho potato packing operation has been awarded a USD 19.6 million USDA funding to construct a frozen potato processing facility. The investment is part of a USD 320 million effort to create better markets for agricultural producers and food businesses.

Washington potato farmers can’t keep pace with worldwide cravings for french fries, hash browns, tots, potato chips and other processed potato products.

The increase in food prices is the result of a ripple effect throughout the supply chain. Farmers and producers experienced sharp rises in the prices of essential inputs like feed, fuel, and fertilizer, leading to a 16.1% increase in their operating expenses.

Potato stocks in Idaho on June 1, 2023 totaled 19.0 million cwt. Disappearance of the Idaho crop to date was
101.7 million cwt. June 1 potato stocks in Oregon totaled 2.80 million cwt.

As of June 1, 2023, total Canadian Potato Storage Holdings are reported to be down 3.3% over 2022 numbers for the same period, and higher than the 3-yr. average.

Carrot Ventures is announced the launch of Cellar Insights. It is the second company emerging from Carrot's AgTech company formation model.

Authorization from the PMRA, following a thorough review of the company’s extensive data dossier, indicates a mutual understanding of the composition, potential and low risk of the RNAi technology.

Steve Watts from Genesis Crop Systems Inc. along with six farmers participated in the Living Labs Atlantic project to test out a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer, also called enhanced efficiency nitrogen.

Potato retail sales increased 16.0% in sales but decreased in volume by -4.4% from January - March 2023 compared to the same timeframe a year ago. Despite a decrease, volume sales remain above pre-pandemic levels.

As part of the National Potato Day in Peru, Agrarian Development and Irrigation Minister Nelly Paredes affirmed that her sector has been boosting exports of native potato processed products

Idaho potatoes make it far into Asian markets, but Japan has yet to open its doors to the Gem State’s most famous export.

Jeff Jennings of Camden, North Carolina, was reappointed to the Potatoes USA Executive Committee on March 15, 2023, at the organization’s Annual Meeting. Jennings is starting his sixth year on the Board and will serve his fourth year as Chair of the Finance and Policy Committee.

Investigadores de la Universidad Mayor de San Simón y de la Universidad Javeriana de Colombia prevén conservar múltiples variedades de este producto bajo estándares de alta calidad genética y sanitaria, debido a bacterias y otro tipo de afectaciones que, con los años, causaron que muchas 'especies' de papas queden prácticamente al borde de la extinción.

La papa se ha convertido en un notable impulsor de la economía regional y local en las zonas productoras y ha generado en el 2022 más de 27 millones de jornales de trabajo y la creación de más de 1010 mil puestos de trabajo permanente.

In a critical move towards advancing precision agriculture, AgTech startup Picketa Systems has successfully closed a CAD 1.445M (USD 1.059M) (Seed investment round. The funding will broaden the development and deployment of their real-time plant tissue analysis technology, called LENS™.

We can all agree that potatoes are America’s favorite vegetable, but a recent Potatoes USA survey investigated different regions’ preferred, nutritious ways to eat the mighty spud.