News on The Potato Supply Chain from the United States

The Idaho Potato Commission’s (IPC) 19th Annual Potato Lover’s Month Retail Display Contest triggerred retailers to pull out all the stops: Floor-to-ceiling, head-turning displays and increased retailer participation demonstrated that this retail promo...

Two more products have been recalled due to the possibility that they may contain salmonella-tainted hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) from Basic Food Flavors – but fears of a large-scale recall have proved unfounded.At the beginning of March, Food an...

The last couple of years have been tough on our potato industry. With a high supply and a low demand, it's been a farmer's nightmare. But this year, farmers say things should turn around.Last year the potato industry was hit with the perfect storm. &qu...

Walker Brothers has received one of two Environmental Stewardship Awards from the National Potato Council.  Along with a farm in Washington State, Walker Brothers farm was praised for their leadership in habitat conservation for wildlife as well as pro...

Many readers are no doubt aware of last summer's late-blight infestation, in which a fungus, Phytophthora infestans, decimated local tomato and potato plantings. The fungus overwinters in southeastern United States but does not generally overwinter in ...

Idaho potato growers are taking to the field this spring without a collective agreement with major processors. The collective bargaining process broke down in Idaho last year following a dispute with ConAgra Foods. Growers blamed ConAgra, and the compa...

U.S. sales of organic products continued to grow during 2009 despite the distressed state of the economy, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) revealed today in releasing findings from its 2010 Organic Industry Survey. In fact, organic product sales in...

Production of winter and spring potatoes is estimated at 25.6 million hundredweight(cwt) in 2010, a 3-percent increase over 2009 and the highest level since 2004. (As of 2010, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service includes California winter ...

According to PMMI’s Quarterly Economic Outlook, the U.S. is in the early stages of a mild recovery. The Industrial Production Index reached a low point in October, ending its worst economic downturn since 1946. Most industries are showing increasing a...

Al Reser, CEO and chairman of Reser's Fionefood, a philanthropist and "Beaver Believer,"died Monday night at the age of 74.According to a statement issued by his family on Tuesday, Reser passed away in his sleep at his Sarasota, Fla., vacatio...

ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston and Agrian announced today that they have reached an agreement under which Agrian will develop the company’s sustainability data collection and reporting system utilizing the Agrian suite of data management tools. The software...

The USDA NASS Cold Storage report released yesterday indicates there was a total of 1,106,521,000 pounds of frozen potato products in storage in the United States on February 28 2010. This is down 7% from last year and slightly up from the amount in s...

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their o...

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM) and Basic American Foods today announced the sale of and a licensing agreement for Hungry Jack(R) brand potato products that will allow Basic American Foods to expand its retail presence in the potato business. The...

The U.S. Potato Board is targeting declining demand as a top priority.   During the group’s annual meeting March 11, board President Tim O’Connor urged members, in approving the next long-term plan, to make fixing declining demand a priority, and to fo...

Last week the European Commission approved cultivation and processing of the genetically modified starch potato Amflora. The request for authorisation was submitted by Amflora's developer BASF in August 1996, more than 13 years ago!

In North America, currently no genetically modified potatoes are commercially grown. But the GM potato has already a colorful history in the US and Canada

During late January, the United States Potato Board (USPB) Chip Committee held a conference call with chip processors to gauge their interest in funding an expansion of the material development program to fast track the breeding of new chip-stock potat...

SNAXPO 2010, the world’s largest trade show devoted exclusively to international snack foods, opened in Fort Worth, TX Thursday, March 4, where nearly 1500 industry professionals from some 35 countries gathered to explore key issues and ideas, as well...