News on Industry Associations

It’s potato harvest time in northern Maine and thanks to one of the longest stretches of nice weather since midsummer, farmers from one end of Aroostook County to the other are looking to get as much of their crop in as they can while the the sun shines.

Washington's hot summer has shrunk the size of potatoes, which could make long fries and large baked potatoes less plentiful this season.

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.

Ben Stein - Actor, Author, Economist, and Pop Culture Icon - will be headlining the Potato Expo 2014 in Texas.

This week, Breeders Trust successfully reached an agreement with eight Italian agricultural cooperatives and producers that propagated potato varieties and marketed these as officially certified seed potatoes, without permission of the variety owner.

Total US potato and product exports for FY13 (July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013) increased 4 percent in value to $1,639,911,793 and also rose 4 percent in volume to 1,561,896 metric tons (MT)--both record levels.

Yield trials of the Dutch Farmers Union VTA indicate a yield mid August 19 percent below the 5-year average.

Growers, agronomists and technical specialists turned out in high numbers at Potatoes in Practice earlier this month on the James Hutton Institute’s Balruddery Farm, Invergowrie.

During the week of Aug. 23, the National Potato Council (NPC) led a delegation of five U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees in a crop tour of the Columbia Basin growing area in Oregon.

Importers and growers looking to buy high health, high quality seed are warmly invited to visit Potato Council’s stand at Potato Europe (Emmeloord, The Netherlands, September 11-12, 2013).

North American Potato Market News (NAPMN) is projecting a 22.6% production drop in the North Dakota Potato crop this fall.

US Consumers frustrated with historically high potato prices should look for some relief at the checkout lane soon when the late summer and fall crops start hitting store shelves.

The Idaho Potato Commission has stepped up its global marketing efforts with the addition of Traci Hiebert as the new Idaho Potato Commission international marketing director.

Officials from Oregon and Washington are working on an upcoming joint trade mission to expand export opportunities for Northwest potatoes.

In the aftermath of last year’s difficult growing and harvesting season, almost one in ten of Britain’s potato growers decided to call it a day, but, according to Rob Clayton of the Potato Council, the 2013 acreage of potatoes in the UK has not fallen.

Furious potato growers are going head to head with supermarkets and restaurants in a campaign to reclaim the "British New Potato".

Nora Olsen is The Potato Association of America president for 2013-2014. Olsen is a professor and Extension potato specialist at the University of Idaho’s Kimberly Research and Extension Center.

Industry leaders with the Maine Potato Board said Thursday that after a wet and soggy spring which forced some growers to do some replanting, crops are recovering and if the weather holds, Aroostook County is on track to have a bountiful potato harvest.