Potato News

Results of the latest EuroBlight potato late blight monitoring project now available

EuroBlight is continuously examining the ongoing evolution of the European population of the potato late blight pathogen and now reports on the 2018 results. Approximately 1000 samples were genotyped from 22 countries, says JENS GRØNBECH HANSEN in a recent article published on the EuroBlight website.
5/5/2019

Nematicide Stewardship Programme in the UK aims to set single industry standard

All nematicides require careful handling. Members of the Nematicide Stewardship Programme(NSP) in the UK say the aim of the NSP is to ensure a best practice approach across all aspects of their use, from delivery on farm through to operator handling, machinery set up and maintenance, to application and storage.
5/4/2019

McCain invests $300m to expand Washington potato processing site

FoodBev Media reports that McCain Foods USA, the US unit of potato product giant McCain Foods, has invested $300 million to expand its potato processing site in Othello, Washington. The investment will pay for the construction of an additional 170,000-square-foot of production space at the site, doubling the overall production capacity at the facility and significantly expanding the company’s production capacity for the North American market.
5/3/2019

Potato agronomy: Headlands around crops ‘buzzing with life’

At a time when headlines are warning of an “insect apocalypse”, new research in the UK has found potato and vegetable growers are providing a hugely valuable habitat resource and insect species are thriving. Potato growers are said to help promote biodiversity by planting green headlands around crops. CPM writers Lucy de la Pasture and Rob Jones report the latest findings which suggest that several predators are thriving.
5/2/2019

India’s potato row: Govt working on solution that favours farmers

According to a report published today by The Hindu’s Business Line, the Gujarat government is working for an out-of-court settlement of cases filed by PepsiCo against nine farmers for growing a variety of potato “registered” by the food and beverages giant, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said Wednesday.
5/2/2019

Europatat Congress 2019: Main speakers confirmed

On 13 June 2019, under the slogan “The timeless potato: A dynamic and innovative food”, the Europatat Congress will explore the potential for innovation within the sector now and into the future as well as Norway’s special trade relations with the EU.
5/2/2019

Canadian potato storage holdings lowest in five years

Canadian potato storage holdings, with includes all sectors, are the lowest of the last five years, according to the United Potato Growers of Canada’s update on April 1. Potatoes in Canada reports that potato storage holdings are down 11 per cent from where they were in April 2018. Some of the biggest declines are seen in provinces that suffered tough harvest conditions, like Manitoba and Prince Edward Island.
4/29/2019

The ‘surprise’ new blight strain – and what it means for Scottish growers

According to a report by The Scottish Farmer, discovery of a late blight strain less sensitive to a key fungicide in Scotland requires potato growers to apply strict resistance management principles when planning fungicide programmes this season. Two blight strains, 37_A2 and 36_A2, are of concern to the UK potato industry and up until last year, positive samples of either genotype have been confined to England.
4/29/2019

Canada: Manitoba’s potato sector not stressing on seed, despite tight supplies

Manitoba Co-operator reports that Manitoba’s potato sector is gearing up to supply an expanding industry but seed supplies will be tight after a tough harvest last season. J.R. Simplot’s $460-million expansion of its Portage la Prairie plant is expected to double the operation’s need for tubers when it comes online this fall.
4/29/2019

Neonicotinoids in Canada: Most uses on potatoes remain unchanged

Dr Eugenia Banks, potato specialist at the Ontario Potato Board, alerted recipients of her email newsletter today that Health Canada recently released its final pollinator re-evaluation decisions for neonicotinoid pesticides. Most uses on non-attractive crops such as root and tuber vegetables (including potatoes), brassica leafy vegetables, leafy vegetables, and (indoor) greenhouse vegetables remain unchanged.
4/27/2019

British store operators ‘ill-informed on energy use’

Many potato store operators could make significant savings in energy costs if they obtained more usage data to make informed decisions, according to Ray Andrews of Crop Systems Limited in the UK. During an interview with Potato Review magazine, he said: “I don’t think many operators realise how much energy prices vary, or how frequently in any 24-hour period they change. Bear in mind that peak energy prices are often three times higher than off-peak rates.”
4/26/2019

India: Now, PepsiCo offers to settle case against Gujarat potato farmers

The Hindu reports that in the wake of criticism over its ₹4.2 crore lawsuit against four Gujarati potato farmers, food and beverages giant PepsiCo has offered to settle the case if the farmers stop growing the registered potato variety used in its Lays chips.
4/26/2019

Potatoes prevent food crisis and restore ‘dignity and hope’ in Ethiopia

Irish potatoes have prevented another major humanitarian food crisis in one of the poorest and most remote parts of Ethiopia, the Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide has said. The humble spud, introduced by Concern Worldwide into the country’s drought-prone northern highland regions in 2007, is credited with a major drop in food shortages and improvements in the local economy.
4/25/2019

Penobscot McCrum plans new potato processing plant in Maine

According to a report by The County, Penobscot McCrum is planning to build a new potato processing plant at the site of a long-closed potato factory in Washburn, Maine. Penobscot McCrum, the vertically integrated potato business of the McCrum family, is in the midst of submitting permitting documents to build a 115,000 square foot potato processing plant on Parsons Road, said Jan Weigman, project manager at Wright-Pierce.
4/25/2019

Kraft Heinz reportedly weighs sale of Ore-Ida frozen potato business

Tater Tot maker Ore-Ida is the latest brand Kraft Heinz is considering shedding as it scrambles to pay down debt and restructure its business following a disastrous quarterly report. Kraft Heinz has reportedly hired investment bank Evercore Partners to prepare a potential sale of its Ore-Ida brand, people familiar with the situation told CNBC. The brand could fetch roughly $1.5 billion to $2 billion, the people said.
4/24/2019

British potato stocks down 13%

Following the tough 2018 growing season, the latest estimates from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) show British potato stock levels were down 13 per cent on the five-year average. Levels were however comparable to other tight supply seasons, for example they are only slightly lower than at the same point in 2013/14 and 2015/16, while higher than 2012/13.
4/24/2019

Fresher Canadian potatoes coming to Atlanta via $22M distribution center

Canada’s EarthFresh Farms is spending $22 million to open a high-tech packing plant and distribution center near the Atlanta airport in College Park, getting its potatoes to southern customers more quickly. The Burlington, Ontario-based company is the latest food distribution center clustered in Atlanta’s budding Aerotropolis region.
4/21/2019

Biostimulants and biologicals – what are they?

While fertilizers and pesticides play a significant role in attempting to overcome some of these obstacles, agricultural biologicals are said to make a crucial contribution toward the goal of making intensive agricultural production more successful and sustainable. Biological proponents claim that biologicals makes crops healthier, with improved defenses against diseases and pests, and better able to withstand a-biotic stresses.
4/21/2019

The Seed Potato Story: What goes on behind closed doors

During the winter months the shed doors are firmly closed and all is quiet. However, when you take a look inside you’ll find Dutch seed potato farmers are picking the fruit of their labour. After planting, crop husbandry, harvesting and storage the show begins. The tubers have to be graded in different sizes, soil, haulm and clods removed. They are inspected by hand and further processed for customers all around the globe.
4/20/2019

Will a slow start for PNW potato farmers lead to the french fry apocalypse?

Spring is just now beginning to shine in much of eastern Oregon and Washington. A winter of record snowfall left the ground frozen or flooded much later than normal. As a result, farmers are getting a late start on their crops. “We’ve had the longest winter ever,” said Chris Voight, director of the Washington State Potato Commission. He recently spoke with OPB “Weekend Edition” host John Notarianni. “Normally we start planting potatoes the end of February, but this year we weren’t able to start planting until April 1.”
4/20/2019

Potato prices soar in Eastern Europe

Prices of some vegetables, especially potatoes, in the Czech Republic have been increasing dramatically due to a significant drop in production, a new report from the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has revealed.
4/19/2019

US grower responses through online survey on potato disease control challenges

Spudman magazine recently polled readers through an online survey on challenges they’re facing controlling potato diseases. You will find the results on this page of the magazine’s website. Some of the comments made by respondents regarding specific diseases: Common scab - “No feasible control outside planting resistant cultivars.” “There is no control available that actually works.”
4/19/2019

New variety of zebra chip disease threatens potato production in southwestern Oregon

Named after the dark stripes that form inside potatoes after they are cut and fried, zebra chip disease is a potentially devastating affliction that can result in yield losses up to 100% for farmers. The disease, caused by the bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum,’ has been economically damaging commercial crops, including potato, tomato, and pepper, in the central and western United States, Mexico, Central America, and New Zealand since the early 2000s.
4/18/2019

NAK discovers counterfeit seed potato certificates

Inspection service NAK in the Netherlands has reportedly discovered counterfeit seed potato certificates, whereby the non-certified potatoes have been sold under false labels. The NAK, together with the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), is still hunting for the counterfeiters.
4/18/2019

Potato nutrition: Remove the guesswork

We can watch the crop grow all day long and even though we can notice things from a macro-view, without a good regimen of sampling we will probably not know what is really going on in the crop. Soil and tissue sampling gives us the scorecard we need to really understand what is going on and to help us better manage the “players”.
4/18/2019

Next time you munch on potatoes, ‘remember how lucky you are…’

In an opinion piece written by Peter Kaplinsky and published in The Cornell Daily Sun, the author reflects on how his parents moved their family from the USSR to America many years ago, and in particular how “potatoes were a staple, featured in nearly every dish” in the USSR, saying that “one whiff of the greasy, thick aroma of fried potatoes with mushrooms and I knew I was home.”
4/17/2019

New Canadian store sells ‘imperfect’ produce for half the price

A new store has opened in the Canadian province of British Columbia, to keep food out of landfills and make sure more local families get fresh fruit and vegetables. ReFresh, a shop that offers produce deemed no longer sellable by grocery stores at lower prices, had its grand opening in the Cowichan Valley city over the weekend. Executive director Judy Stafford said the opening was a big success.
4/17/2019

‘Ecommerce is growing in importance for McCain Foods,’ says ecommerce lead

McCain Foods has selected ecommerce analytics provider e.fundamentals to help drive sales of its products through retailers’ websites. Nick Sultanti, ecommerce lead at the frozen potato products manufacturer, commented: “Ecommerce is growing in importance for McCain. We see e.fundamentals as the correct choice of data partner for us due to the simplicity of their platform and the ease of getting to the insights.
4/16/2019

Syngenta BlightCast launched two weeks ahead of normal in the UK

Syngenta BlightCast has been launched two weeks ahead of normal this season, with reports of early crops in the south west coming under pressure as plastic covers are removed. Whilst planting has been progressing across the country in generally good conditions, cool soil temperatures have slowed development. Now, with forecast temperatures set to warm up, growers and agronomists can be forewarned of conditions conducive to blight.
4/15/2019

Pepsico sues Indian farmers for allegedly growing exclusive potato variety illegally

The US food and beverages giant PepsiCo has sued three farmers from Gujarat, complaining that they have been illegally growing and selling a variety of potato exclusively registered to Pepsico for the use of producing its Lays potato chips. PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd has informed the court that it uses the registered variety of potatoes called FL 2027, which is a hybrid of FL 1867 and Wischip varieties, for manufacturing chips for its brand. The company is the registered breeder of FL 2027.
4/15/2019

Health Canada announces new restrictions on neonicotinoid pesticides

Earlier this week Health Canada announced in a press release that it has completed its re-evaluations of the neonicotinoid pesticides clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in relation to their potential impact on bees and other pollinators, and has released the final decisions for each.
4/14/2019

‘Plants don’t know what day of the week it is,’ says busy potato grower

Alan Jones, owner of Jones Potato Farms in Parrish, Fl logs about 40,000 miles a year on his pickup and many hours in his office and in the fields or on the road. “I’ve had very few days off in the past couple of months,” said Jones, who has owned the 4,000-acre plus Jones Potato Farm since 1986. “It’s been seven days a week for me,” he said. “Plants don’t know what day of the week it is.”
4/14/2019

Phytophthora in potatoes becoming more aggressive in Northwest Europe

Phytophthora clone EU-13 was already known for being aggressive and difficult to combat. In recent years, two new clones have been on the rise in northwestern Europe: Eu-36 and EU-37. These clones are supplanting EU-13. The characteristics that caused these two clones to expand has now been researched by Wageningen University & Research. This information allows the combat strategy of phytophthora to be improved.
4/13/2019

Hot potato with ‘oily’ feel on Canada’s Prince Edward Island

Earlier this week The Guardian newspaper on Prince Edward Island in Canada published the following Editorial on the relationship between Islanders and oil company J.D Irving Limited, owner of Cavendish Farms, producer of processing potatoes on the Island.
4/13/2019

Prominent US potato researcher, soon to retire, reflects on 45-year career

As the director of Oregon State University’s Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Phil Hamm has been at the forefront of potato research for decades. All good things must end, however, and the time has come for Hamm to call it a career. He’ll retire in a few months. Hamm has spent his entire 45-year career studying plant disease, including the past 30 years at Oregon State in some capacity.
4/13/2019

Going without mancozeb in Canada

Currently under review in Canada, mancozeb is a potato industry staple for fighting late blight and early blight. Its proponents fear its loss would spell higher production costs for farmers and would remove a vital tool for managing disease resistance in potatoes. Canadian potato farmers could be facing higher production costs with the potential loss of a key weapon against late blight.
4/11/2019

Results down for major British potato supplier

Turnover and profits have dropped at one of the UK’s largest potato businesses, according to newly filed accounts. Lincolnshire-headquartered Branston, which supplies own-label products to supermarkets, such as Tesco, as well as selling under its own brand, has reported a turnover of £133.5m for the year to 29 July 2018, down from £143m in the prior 12 months.
4/11/2019

Scientists zero in on the weed link in zebra chip epidemiology

A major challenge in controlling zebra chip disease of potatoes is our inability to predict which potato fields are likely to be colonized by potato psyllid, the vector of the pathogen that causes zebra chip, according to specialists W. Rodney Cooper, David R. Horton and Eugene Miliczky(USDA-ARS), and Carrie H. Wohleb and Timothy D. Waters at Washington State University.
4/10/2019

The humble potato now seen as a staple for future food security in China

The potential of potato to provide food security is one reason China has undergone remarkable growth in potato production over the last two decades, and China has become by far the largest producer of potatoes in the world, write authors Wang Su and Jian Wang in a paper published in a special issue of the American Journal of Potato Research on April 9.
4/10/2019

Equipment manufacturer says potato processors are becoming ‘more demanding’

Dutch based manufacturer of weighing and packaging machines, Manter International, says potato processors are becoming more demanding, as they are looking for complete solutions when it comes to weighing and packaging, and not just simple machines.
4/9/2019

Acrylamide reduction: Processors under increased pressure

With the EU’s new regulation on the reduction of acrylamide now in force, manufacturers are under increased pressure to reduce the effects of acrylamide – the result of the Maillard reaction that naturally occurs between amino acid and reducing sugars when starchy foods like potatoes are fried at high temperatures.
4/9/2019

German company to start producing French fries in Zambia this year

According to a report by the Lusaka Times, a German company that will locally produce French fries for both the Zambian and regional export markets is expected to commence operations this year. The announcement was made by Mr. Frank Nordman, German Agri business President earlier last week while on a visit to Zambia’s Ambassador in Germany, Anthony Mukwita, at the embassy offices on Axel Springer Street in Berlin.
4/8/2019

Upcoming World Potato Congress webinar to focus on seed potato handling from storage to planting

The World Potato Congress (WPC) is pleased to be offering its third webinar in its 2019 series with Dr. Gary Secor. Dr. Secor is a world renowned potato specialist and Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota, USA. Dr. Secor’s webinar presentation “Best Management Practices for Seed Potato Handling from Storage to Planting” will be live on April 25, 2019 at 08:00 a.m. Central Standard Time.
4/7/2019

AFF’s pesticide residue calculator shows noteworthy results

The Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF), a non-profit organization comprised of both organic and conventional farmers in the US, says health experts and scientists overwhelmingly agree that fresh produce, grown either conventionally or organically, is safe to eat for you and your children. The AFF has developed an online pesticide residue calculator to measure the safety of several of the most popular fruits and vegetables when it concerns pesticide levels.
4/7/2019

US: Overview of spring planting progress in the Northwest

Some eastern Idaho farmers foresee a slight delay in planting as they wait for snow to melt and their fields to dry. As Idaho farmers begin to decide when to plant, they can expect a warm wet spring. In the Pacific Northwest, the April, May and June precipitation outlook indicates enhanced odds of above-normal seasonal total precipitation, according to the Climate Prediction Center.
4/5/2019

US: New Vibrance seed treatment product available for potatoes

A one-of-a-kind combination of four active ingredients is said to help build stronger, more robust roots in potatoes. New to the Syngenta Seedcare™ portfolio, CruiserMaxx® Vibrance® Potato insecticide/fungicide seed treatment is now available.
4/4/2019

British potato planting declarations now online only

Your statutory planting return must be made via the online portal this year. Support will be available to all growers who need it, either over the phone or face to face in your own farm office. Jack Atkins, Levy Assistant, said: “The change will bring several cost savings and benefits. The online system is quick, efficient and is the most secure way to handle personal and financial data.
4/4/2019

Side Delights: Value-added potatoes offer convenience

Side Delights potato dishes are driving traffic to retail stores, according to Fresh Solutions Network LLC, supplier to the brand. Side Delights cites Nielsen research about consumers who increasingly seek value-added convenience items, and a 2018 Date Check Pro study on millennials’ preference for in-store shopping over online when it comes to fresh produce, according to a news release.
4/4/2019

Dewulf is fully prepared for a successful future

Dewulf, full-liner in agricultural machines for potatoes and carrots, stands stronger than ever in the market after a capital injection by family shareholders Hendrik Decramer and Thomas Decan, in collaboration with investor Jan Clarebout. In a press release issued earlier today, the company mentions that these three parties now collectively own all the shares of Dewulf Group.
4/3/2019

Ontario potato grower-marketer expands into the US

EarthFresh Farms is excited to announce their expansion into the Southeastern USA with an advanced technological packing plant and distribution center in Atlanta, GA. The new 140,000 sq. ft. packing plant and distribution center will operate as EarthFresh Atlanta, using the newest available technologies and equipment to serve customers throughout the Southern USA.
4/3/2019