News on The Potato Supply Chain

Germany's first straw-fired heating plant will soon be commissioned in Emlichheim. Burning approximately 60,000 metric tons of straw per year, it will supply heat to Emsland-Stärke GmbH, public facilities and private households.

Potatoes South Australia Incorporated, the peak industry body for the potato industry value chain, has been awarded funding of AU$409,800 (excl GST) through the Federal Department of Agriculture’s National Landcare Innovation Grants for a two year project which will help develop a more reliable soil Phosphorus test.

Jenifer Huang McBeath of the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been researching biological controls and developing environmentally friendly methods for farmers to combat plant diseases since 1985. She never intended to switch her focus to potatoes...

Crop Systems Ltd’s new TaperStor^TM offers operators total control over the stored crop and the environment in which it is kept, combined with the ability to maximise the volume of storage available on any given footprint and so reduce storage costs per tonne.

According to United States Department of Agriculture’s crop production predictions, average potato yield per acre increased during the 2013 season.

In an effort to propel this upward trend into the New Year, Bayer CropScience launched its Potato Perspectives Survey during Potato Expo in San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 8-10, 2014.

Following the successful first-time collaboration by the British potato and horticulture sector at Fruit Logistica 2013, Potato Council, Horticultural Development Company (HDC) and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) return with their industries to this massive event in February 2014.

The potato industry flocked to Harrogate for BP2013, with organisers reporting a 20 per cent increase on the usual 6,000 attendance.

Potato producers in the Pacific Northwest should once again mark their calendars for the upcoming 2014 Washington-Oregon Potato Conference to be held at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, Washington

The mighty potato has pushed out tomatoes to take the title of New Zealand’s number one favourite vegetable.

The mashed potatoes or latkes that enhance your holiday feast have taken a long path from tuber to table – in many cases, several years. A project at Cornell University could trim that time.

Chip Week has become one of the biggest awareness weeks in the calendar, but, as important as it is, it is still only one aspect of the work that Potato Council does to support the sector.

Herbicide-resistant weeds pose significant economic and production challenges, particularly in specialty crops such as potatoes where weed control options are limited.

Dewulf, specialist in harvesting technology of potatoes and carrots, proudly presents number 300 of the R3060, 2-row self-propelled potato harvester.

While the russet potato has been a fixture on kitchen tables across America for as long as . . . well, we've had kitchen tables . . . a new variety of russet is waking up taste buds just in time for the holidays with a smoother, moister and richer taste.

Tong Peal Engineering is set to showcase its latest range of in-field handling equipment at LAMMA 2014.

Joseph Pavek bred the popular potato variety Ranger Russet and developed much of the germplasm still used by breeders today, though he retired in 1999.

Simplot processing potato farmers in Tasmania have accepted a $10 per tonne price cut for crops deliverable in 2014.

Profits have fallen by more than £10m at McCain Foods GB after Britain's market-leading frozen chip maker was hit by a severe shortage of quality potatoes in the UK as a direct result of the extreme weather conditions in the 2012 growing season.