Potato News from Idaho

The first line of J.R. Simplot Co.'s genetically modified potatoes has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration as safe for human consumption. The voluntary FDA safety review found that the potatoes are as safe and nutritious as conventional potatoes.

The first potato line ever launched under the Potandon Produce ™ brand name will soon be available.

Idaho is currently confronted with the unusual situation that large Russet potatoes are far more expensive than small Russets and the price gap is only increasing.

Levels of zebra chip, a crop disease in potatoes spread by potato psyllids and caused by the Liberibacter bacterium, were down signficiantly in the Pacific Northwest.

A former Potato Growers of Idaho executive director believes Idaho’s capacity to produce and pack potatoes has outgrown the market, at the expense of growers.

Officials with Idaho’s pale cyst nematode eradication program say they’ve discovered three more infested fields totaling 994 acres since October, including two fields that had previously been deregulated from the program.

Port disruptions on the West Coast due to labor contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) are hurting Idaho agriculture and Idaho’s exporters.

The 13 major US potato States held 263 million cwt of potatoes in storage December 1, 2014, down 3 percent from 2 years
ago.

The lastest focus on Potato webcast provides an update on Potato Sprout Control, by Nora Olsen, Professor and Extension Potato Specialist at the University of Idaho

If the Innate GMO potato is going to take off, depends on Simplot winning over three major factions, Farmers, big buyers such as McDonald's and the Consumer

In Idaho, the centerpiece of the holiday meal is always... you guessed it... the potato. The Idaho Potato Commission helps with a lot of recipes.

A potato genetically engineered to reduce the amounts of a potentially harmful ingredient in French fries and potato chips has been approved for commercial planting, the Department of Agriculture announced on Friday.

The Simplot potato processing plant in Nampa will again stay open longer than anticipated.

Robert Tominaga, president of Heyburn, Idaho-based Southwind Farms, has seen demand for the fingerlings his company grows and other specialties rise dramatically in recent years.

The J.R. Simplot Co. is decommissioning its potato-processing plant in Aberdeen in Bingham County. Simplot says all processing work there ended over the Labor Day weekend.

Showing its support for one of the most popular fundraisers ever, the Idaho Potato Commission’s (IPC) Great Big Idaho® Potato Truck nominated the Florida Department of Citrus, Washington Apples, and Georgia Peaches to accept the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

Continued wet August weather has caused late blight infections to proliferate throughout Eastern Idaho, according to University of Idaho Extension potato pathologist Phil Nolte.

The J.R. Simplot plant in Aberdeen is still up and running, after it was scheduled to officially close its doors on July 31, but a delay in the start-up of the production in the new Caldwell plant has it rescheduled to close Sept. 2.