News on Potato Storage

West Bengal state government today started selling potato at Rs 13 a kilo, a price pegged by chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on a day potato traders in Bengal began a 3-day strike to protest the administration’s ban on selling the tuber to other states.

Potato prices have almost doubled in most parts of India over the past one week. While most states are yet to take steps to check the spike in prices, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has called a meeting on October 30 to review the situation.

More than 140 potato growers, advisors and agronomists met at Frederick Hiam Ltd, Tuddenham, Suffolk at the end of August, 2013, for Potato Council’s East of England Potato Day.

The potato and potato processing industry is changing and Tummers is taking the lead in offering solutions in response. Up to now at most factories the potatoes have been unloaded at high capacity from the lorry, then sorted by size and stored in bunkers unwashed.

Machinery manufacturer Tong Peal has announced a brand new machinery finishing process, as part of continued efforts to provide farmers and growers with the highest quality custom handling equipment.

The Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) in Shimla, India's premier potato research institute, has evolved a new technology to prevent conversion of starch into glucose in low temperature conditions, like cold storages.

AVR is a leading supplier of agricultural machines, specializing in potato cultivation mechanization. Since spring of this year, crop handling technology has been added to our line-up following the acquisition of Climax International B.V.

Contrary to NGO stories of exploited farmers and middlemen running riot, Gujarat’s potato farmers have scripted an entrepreneurial success story by teaming up with multinationals and other buyers of their produce

For over 30 years, the International Potato Center (CIP) has played a significant role in developing Sino-Peruvian relations through the introduction and promotion of various varieties of drought and disease resistant potato and sweet potato to China.

David Thompson, President of World Potato Congress Inc., recently announced that Yanqing County, Beijing City, China, has been selected as the site of the 9th International World Potato Congress to be held July 28-30th, 2015.

The Maine Potato Board is pleased to announce the 2013 Farm Family of the Year - the Wayne and Gregg Garrison family of Blaine.

Potato Tuber Moth (Phthorimaea operculella) populations are on the increase across southern Europe, particularly around Mediterranean basin, and are likely to lead to significant in-store losses and threaten the trade of infected tubers.

The variable weather conditions in the United Kingdom, leading to a dramatic drop in potato stocks made 2012 the worst year in living memory for growers.

The National Potato Council is investigating options to restore USDA potato stocks estimates cut due to budget sequestration, including industry funding to cover the work or identifying offsetting cuts to less important potato reports.

Some farmers on P.E.I. are dealing with the problem of potatoes rotting in storage this winter and growers in the western part of the province are especially hard hit.

Cold storages in West Bengal are struggling to stay afloat because of the state government’s refusal to let them raise rent.

The Bengal state government may opt to defer a rise in the price of potato cold storage in light of the fact that an election is coming. Any rise in prices is unlikely to be popular with the electorate.

Idaho potato growers will vote Monday in Burley on contracts with McCain Foods and J.R. Simplot Co. paying a 1.6 percent average increase, according to sources involved in negotiations.