News on The Potato Supply Chain from the United States

As the potato season in Maine is coming to an end, John Jemison, a soil and water quality specialist for the University of Maine is reflecting on the season and what the harvest might bring.

The Japanese government lifted on Tuesday an import ban on potatoes grown in Idaho, the largest U.S. potato producer, for the first time in 11 years after confirming a lowered risk of pest invasion, sources familiar with the matter said.

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.

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.

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'

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

The Little Potato Company celebrated the official grand opening of its new U.S. processing facility in DeForest, near Madison, Wisconsin on July 27, 2017.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that potato producers in Washington voted to continue their federal marketing order program.