News on Potato Trade from the Americas

To help offset rising food costs, four farms on Prince Edward Island are opening their potato storages to Islanders. Visitors are invited to help themselves and pick unwashed potatoes directly from the pile in storage. The event occurs Saturday, March 11th, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.

The President of Potatoes USA says worldwide demand for the tuber is outpacing production.

Potato retail sales in the United States increased in dollar value by 17.2% but decreased in volume sales by -1.3% from October – December 2022 compared to the same timeframe a year ago.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service is awarding USD 202.7 million to more than 60 U.S. agricultural organizations to help expand export markets for U.S. farm and food products through the Market Access Program.

Across the globe, restaurants are back to operating at normal capacity, borders are opening for tourism, and many consumers are looking for high-quality, nutritious food options, all leading to strong demand for US potatoes.

US Potato retail sales increased in dollar sales by 17.8% but decreased in volume sales by 2.1% from July - September 2022 compared to the same timeframe a year ago. Despite a small decrease in volume sales.

The World Potato Congress Inc. presents its sixth webinar this year on December 13, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (USA/Canada)

The minister of agriculture of Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada has tabled legislation that would give the provincial government a lead role in trying to prevent the spread of potato wart in the province.

Eagle Eye Produce had been harvesting new crop potatoes for several weeks before beginning harvest for its storage supplies the week after Labor Day. While it is still too early to know the overall projection for the crop.

Potato retail sales in the United States increased in dollar value and decreased slightly in volume from April - June 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. As prices increased by 13.6%, dollar sales increased by 12.6%. Volume sales decreased 0.8%.

Productores destacaron el buen rendimiento del cultivo de papa en Ñeembucú, se mostraron optimistas y dijeron que el clima ayudó para obtener buenos resultados. Indicaron que están incursionando en este rubro para poder mejorar la economía de los agricultores.

Por primera vez en la historia de Colombia, 25 tonealadas de papa cultivada en los departamentos de Cundinamarca y Boyacá llegaron a Trinidad y Tobago, gracias a una gestión comercial realizada por Procolombia y el Instituto Agropecuario Colombiano (ICA).

U.S. farmers started shipping fresh potatoes into the Mexican interior in May, about 20 years after an initial deal was signed between the two countries.

With testing completed on 5,000 Prince Edward Island (PEI) soil samples collected by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from March to June no potato wart has been found.

The National Confederation of Potato Producers of the Mexican Republic (Conpapa) ruled against the importation of fresh potatoes from the United States, due to its 'high risk of containing quarantine pests'.

Fields, where potato wart has been found, should be taken permanently out of any type of agricultural production, a P.E.I. legislative committee is recommending.

Potatoes USA, the marketing and promotion board for the potato industry in the United States, elected new leadership during its Annual Meeting on March 9, 2022. The newly elected Chairman and Executive Committee will lead the Board through 2022-2023.

The National Potato Council released the following statement in response to a joint announcement by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Mexico Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Víctor Villalobos