News on The Potato Supply Chain from the Americas

California will be the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants and bakeries under legislation signed today by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The measure requires restaurants to quit using trans fats by January 2010, and for bakeries to follow suit ...

The Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that it will no longer allow residue of the toxic pesticide carbofuran on domestic or imported food, a decision that would effectively remove the chemical from the U.S. market. EPA officials sa...

Cavendish Farms producers voted “overwhelmingly yes’’ Wednesday (July 23) to accept the latest offer from the Irving-owned company, but many look to the future with concern. It was the fourth meeting for the approximately 180 growers on Prince Edward ...

El actual titular del INTA, Carlos Cheppi, reemplazará a Javier de Urquiza como Secretario de Agricultura Ganadería, Pesca y Alimentos de la Nación. Habría presentado un plan a la presidenta Cristina Fernández de Kirchner que contempla fuertes crecimie...

The Washington office of NASS said Washington growers planted fewer potatoes and more dry peas and will have lighter peach and apricot crops. Washington winter wheat production is expected to reach 109.7 million bushels this season, up 1 percent.Potato...

Prince Edward Island potato growers may be one step closer to settling a contract dispute with Cavendish Farms. But they’ll have to wait until Wednesday to find out how close they’ve come.After nearly two weeks away from the table, the potato growers ...

Potato chip producer Ira Middleswarth &Son may soon see the end of the potato shortage that slowed their July production to a crawl, according to a company official. Thanks to Midwestern crop shortages, the Middleburg-based chip maker endured three...

United Potato Growers of Idaho projects 300,266 acres of potatoes in Idaho for the 2008-09 season, down 12.3 percent from the acreage counted in 2007-08 by the Farm Service Agency.United announced the results of its first-ever potato acreage count at t...

It's not the Great Irish Potato Famine of the 19th century, but the summer of 2008 has turned into a major test for potato-chip producers across the country. The price of a bushel of chip potatoes has doubled in the last few months, going from $9 to a ...

A mandatory three-year crop rotation could be a real hot potato if the provincial (Prince Edward Island) government attempts to legislate it this fall, suggest some farmers who applaud the Commission on Nitrates in Groundwater report. The report was ma...

Food commodity prices have now stabilized after surging early this year while a weak dollar may reduce inflationary pressures in many countries, a senior United Nations economist said on Wednesday. "It looks like from March onwards we have arreste...

The humble spud has few natural enemies (beside humans), but common scab disease is one that threatens the whole potato industry. Common scab is one of the most prevalent and costly diseases for the potato industry worldwide. The vegetable research t...

Dr. Don Henne isn’t wasting his degree when he’s standing by the deep fryer waiting for potato slices to turn brown. He’s conducting research that will help the potato industry and consumers. Henne, an assistant research scientist in the Texas AgriLif...

Government support of  biofuel production in OECD countries is costly, has a limited impact on reducing greenhouse gases and improving energy security, and has a significant impact on world crop prices, according to a new study of policies to promote ...

Some restoration work is under way at the destroyed Wild River Foods potato processing plant in Grandview, but the plant's owners said in a letter Monday that they still haven't decided if they will rebuild.A sparking electrical panel caused a fire tha...

This year's potato crop in North Dakota is estimated at 83,000 acres, a drop of 14 percent from last year.The Agriculture Department says wet soil conditions in May delayed planting progress, but planting still wrapped up around June 8. That was ahead...

Two years and $2 million later, the big moment in the life of Long Island's new distillery came in March when co-owner Dan Pollicino put his pinkie into the first liquid flowing out of the still and tasted it."When we got to the heart of the run a...

Potato production is down in Manitoba this year, a result of input costs, market value and a decrease in demand. Labour shortage issues, rising production costs and higher returns in other crops, as well as economic factors, have contributed to less ...