News on Food Trends from Northern America

Jake Blauer is the newly hired post-harvest potato physiologist at Washington State University.

McCain Foods Limited has made a substantial investment in TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture and its wholly owned subsidiary GoodLeaf Farms, Canada's largest commercial vertical farming operation, to help drive the company's growth and expansion plans.

An investor group led by Champlain Financial Corporation,‎ and including Fondaction, has acquired a majority stake in the Wong Wing business unit ('Wong Wing') in partnership with McCain Foods Canada ('McCain').

At the National Potato Council (NPC) 2021 Annual Meeting held virtually due to travel restrictions, Dominic LaJoie of Van Buren, Maine was elected to serve as NPC’s 2021 President and to head the grower-led organization’s Executive Committee.

Food and food packaging are highly unlikely to spread COVID-19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a reminder last week.

Bedford Industries introduces CloseIt® Bio-Clip, its new plant-based bag closure containing 100% USDA certified biobased content that is commercially compostable.

On February 17, 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court released a draft ruling that would overturn a 2017 lower court decision preventing the Mexican federal government from implementing regulations to allow the import of fresh US potatoes throughout the country.

February is Potato Lover's Month and Arrowfarms companies Morning Kiss Organic and Gold Bell are introducing new, compostable paper bag potato packaging.

Bill Guenthner of Guenthner Farms was elected WPVGA Board President for 2021. The WPVGA Associate Division Board of Directors elected Chris Brooks of Central Door Solutions to be its President for 2021. The WSPIA Board of Directors elected J.D. Schroeder of Schroeder Bros. Farms, President for 2021.

The Washington Potato Co. facility in Warden still smolders the next morning and smoke fills the air after a fire broke out in a potato dehydrator the afternoon of Jan. 21, prompting a response from fire departments across Grant and neighboring Adams counties.

As winter weather dominates the country, customers are encouraged to Break the Ice with Polar White potato promotion

In the end, 2020 was a pretty good year for Idaho’s iconic potato industry, but it sure wasn’t easy.

McCain Foods Limited has acquired a significant minority share of New Brunswick-based data science company Fiddlehead Technology.

New research looks at how restaurants and consumers were changed by the events of 2020 and the year of transition ahead.

The amount and quality of the potatoes coming off Chad Berry’s field last fall weren’t that much different from one side to the other, but one half came with a lot less tillage.

With the inauguration of US President Biden a week behind us now, Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council discusses what the impact of the new administration on the potato industry might be.

From January 5-7, more than 1,000 U.S. and international potato industry members joined the first-ever virtual Potato Expo. The annual event that kicks off the year for the industry, was brought online for the first time in response to the travel challenges imposed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The owners of a potato facility in New Annan confirm they will not dispute a CAD 1,000 fine they received following a spill of waste water at the end of 2020.