News on The Potato Supply Chain from Northern America

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 ...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

To date six successful international Congresses have been held in a number of exotic locations across the globe, including: Charlottetown, Canada - 1993 Harrogate, United Kingdom - 1994 Durban, South Africa - 1997 Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 2000 Ku...

Herr Foods is still in the chips despite a recent potato shortfall.The southern Chester County salty snack maker purchases about 15 tractor-trailer loads of potatoes each weekday.That's 3.4 million pounds a week, roughly 125 million to 150 million poun...

Last year, in the U.S., an average of 126 pounds of potatoes per person were consumed, according to the Department of Agriculture. Twelve percent of the total -- 16 pounds -- was in the form of chips. That's where the Hoekstra family comes in. For ha...

Apple is reportedly going to distribute its new iPhone 3G in packaging made from potato starch when it is launched on 11 July. Dutch firm PaperFoam, which produces CD and DVD packaging and custom-made packs for consumer electronics and pharmaceutical...

A representative for potato growers in the state said Tuesday that other process-ors should be able to pick up the volume of potatoes that would have been handled by the Grandview plant destroyed by fire. But Dale Lathim, executive director of Othel...

For the third time, P.E.I. potato farmers growing on contract with Cavendish Farms have rejected an offer from the company. The farmers, growing potatoes specially suited for french fries, would normally have a contract to sell their crop to the comp...