News on The Potato Supply Chain from Northern America

August 23, 2011

Gregg Halverson Receives PAA Honorary Life Membership Award

The Potato Association of America held its annual meeting last week in Wilmington, North Carolina. Each year they recognize leaders in their industry with Honorary Life Membership Awards for both technical and non-technical achievement in their careers...

August 23, 2011

Focus on Potato launches two new webcasts

Focus on Potato announces the launch of two new webcasts for practitioners in the potato industry, titled “Mid to Late Season Irrigation Management” and “Integrated Management of Storage Diseases.” View “Integrated Management of Storage Diseases” “I...

August 23, 2011

USPB implements stricter use of 'Potatoes...Goodness Unearthed®' nutritional signature

The United States Potato Board (USPB) Executive Committee has issued the steps they are taking to implement new procedures that have been approved by the USPB Administrative Committee and Domestic Marketing Committee to set a new direction for our nutr...

Colorado Potato Administrative Committee

August 19, 2011

Colorado potatoes have a steady year

Despite a cold, dry spring with lots of wind, the Colorado potato crop is poised to have a slightly better-than-average year. Jim Ehrlich, Executive Director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, notes that despite the wind, the quality and...

August 18, 2011

Potato Rot Nematode Confirmed in Ontario

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed a detection of potato rot nematode (Ditylenchus destructor) in garlic from a two-acre farm field in the Ottawa region of Ontario. Potato rot nematode (PRN) is a regulated quarantine pest in Cana...

August 18, 2011

Guía de identificación de plagas que afectan a la papa en la zona andina

La presente guía ha sido diseñada para proporcionar información actualizada de las principales plagas que afectan al cultivo de la papa a los facilitadores (agricultores líderes, técnicos extensionistas, profesionales o estudiantes de colegios agropecu...

August 16, 2011

Late Blight threatens potato crops in New Brunswick

Late blight has been identified in eight parishes across the Canadian province New Brunswick, threatening the crops of potato farmers. Scientists are urging potato farmers who have the fungus in their fields to treat it quickly and aggressively. &quo...

August 15, 2011

Targeting Late Blight in Canada

This year’s weather conditions in potato-growing regions of Canada are very conducive to an onslaught of late blight, which is caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, and is considered one of the most devastating diseases of potato- and tomato-g...

August 15, 2011

US Potato Sales & Utilization estimates by the United States Potato Board

The USPB is pleased to deliver the industry’s sales and utilization estimates for calendar year 2010. The full report is attached following this story.

August 15, 2011

Merger gives Farm Fresh Direct claim to being largest grower-owned fresh potato shipper in nation

An Aug. 12 merger between Colorado-based Farm Fresh Direct LLC and two out-of-state potato shippers has FFD laying claim to being the largest grower-owned fresh potato shipper in the United States. According to Dave Yeager, vice president of business ...

August 15, 2011

Damp weather helps spread of late blight in Maine potato crop

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension says late blight sightings have been confirmed over the last month throughout Aroostook County and the Midcoast areas. Meanwhile, the Maine Vegetable and Small Fruit Growers Association has received reports...

August 11, 2011

Late blight affects some Maine potato farmers amid rainy weather

The rainy spring and summer have put a damper on the Aroostook County potato growing season, but the head of the Maine Potato Board said Wednesday that the industry remains optimistic about this year’s crop. Don Flannery, executive director of the boa...

August 10, 2011

Nominations open for 2012 World Potato Congress Awards

The President of the World Potato Congress (WPC) Inc. Mr Allan Parker, Canada, and the Chairman of the WPC Awards Committee, Mr Douglas (Doug) Harley, Kinross, Scotland, have announced that nominations are now being called for the 2012 World Potato Con...

August 10, 2011

Late blight confirmed in 21 cases on Prince Edward Island

There are now 21 confirmed cases of late blight on Preince Edward Island, including a first-time-ever case confirmed of blight in a rogue potato plant in a soy bean field. The majority of cases are in potato fields in the western part of the province....

August 10, 2011

PEI Potato Board initiates consumer study

In an effort to better understand today’s potato consumer, the Prince Edward Island Potato Board has embarked upon a market study through an online survey. The Potato Board has been working on an in-depth consumer and branding study with Ipsos-Reid re...

Wireworm (left) are the larval stages of the click beetle (right). Courtesy Agriculture Canada)

August 08, 2011

Canadian Potato farmers losing wireworm weapon

Some Prince Edward Island potato farmers are facing a serious infestation of wireworm and the only fix is about to be taken off the market. Wireworm is a pest that spends four years in the ground, feeding on potatoes and other vegetables. Then it turn...

August 05, 2011

Texas A&M University studied oil removal after vacuum frying

Scientists of the Texas A&M University, writing in the Journal of Food Process Engineering, report that short frying time and/or longer centrifuging time combinations would maximize oil removal from the chip's surface during vacuum frying. Accord...

August 03, 2011

Idaho Potato Commission sponsors 'Famous Idaho Potato Bowl'

The Famous Idaho® Potato Bowl was unveiled today as the new name for the Humanitarian Bowl which features a top selection from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The nation’s longest-running outdoor cold-weathe...