News on The Potato Supply Chain from Northern America

The spring weather in Oregon may not have been ideal, but potato farmer Tony Amstad, owner of Amstad Farms, is still pleasantly surprised with the size and quality of his early season potatoes.

In a visit to the Nematode Quarantine laboratory at Cornell University last Friday, US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, announced a commitment of $400,000 from the USDA for the upgrades to the facilities and equipment.

At the annual Idaho Grower Shipper Association convention, Frank Muir, President of the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) revealed the marketing plans for the upcoming year.

Les Fermes LP Thériault & Fils of Drummond was named the 2016-2017 McCain Champion Potato Grower for Grand Falls during the 43rd annual McCain Growers’ Banquet held August 22 at Centre E.& P. Sénéchal

Exports of all United States potatoes and potato products reached a record $1,758,130,172 for the July 2016 – June 2017 marketing year. U.S. exports also achieved a record volume level of 1,712,364 metric tons (MT).

The National Potato Council (NPC) led a delegation of 6 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff on a tour of Idaho potato fields during the week of August 14.

More than 300 people stopped by Fredericton Research and Development Centre's open house

Red River Valley potato growers generally have avoided drought and deluge this growing season. That bodes well for the soon-to-begin 2017 harvest.

Idaho Potato industry officials report yields are down significantly as Western Idaho growers have started with their early harvest of Russet Norkotahs for the fresh market.

Adrienne Gorny, a fourth-year doctoral student in Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology at Cornell University, is the recipient of the 2017-2018 NPC Academic Scholarship.

Dirk Hays,Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant geneticist: “With Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), we can image the size of the tubers and get a correlation to the actual physical size of the potato without harvesting them. Potatoes are a dream for Ground Penetrating Radar.”

The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) announces that Produce industry veteran Dave Rhodes has joined their team as Retail Promotion Director-Northeast, based in Indianapolis, Indiana

Old Oak Farms®, RPE’s core commodity brand, is bringing new life to the fingerling potato category with Party Potatoes®. In hopes to share the party nationwide, RPE has created multi-themed promotional campaign that will span over the next several months.

Un reciente estudio revela que los estadounidenses pagaron más por las papas que consumían debido a acuerdos establecidos entre cooperativas de productores. El cartel llegó a controlar el 60% de la producción en 2005.

The National Potato Council, representing the United States Potato Industry responds to the Mexican Court decision to block the import of US potatoes: 'Mexican Court Ruling Ignores Science'

Parkland Potato Varieties will be hosting is annual open day at the Crop Diversification Centre South in Brooks, Alberta on August 18th from 10 am to 2 pm.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed two new measures involving the potato industry last Wednesday. One law makes use of certified seed potatoes mandatory, the other enforces a faster response to the presence of late blight

Health Canada and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have completed the food, feed, and environmental safety assessments of the J.R. Simplot Company’s second generation of Innate® potatoes. The authorizations enable the potatoes to be imported, planted, and sold in Canada.