Potato News from Northern America

Retail food prices at the supermarket decreased slightly in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the latest American Farm Bureau Federation Marketbasket Survey. The informal survey shows the total cost of 16 basic grocery items in the fourth quarte...

popchips inc., the pioneering all-natural popped chip company today announced plans to launch popchips in the eastern United States. Jim Marcum, a seasoned sales executive who recently joined popchips as director of natural channel sales in the eastern...

Restaurateurs were hit with a double whammy of increased costs and dropping sales in 2008. But looking back at the carnage, there are a few bright spots. Although the restaurant sector dropped by 20%, it still beat the S&P’s 38% loss. In fact, ther...

Several factories in York, Pennsylvania produce the snacks we enjoy every day. More importantly, they all open their doors to public tours. No one has to wait for a TV special on the Food Channel. This is the real deal -- a chance to walk through kitch...

Members of the Washington State Potato Commission's research committee recently returned from a trip to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Western Regional Research Center.Commission Research Director Andy Jensen said the reason for the trip to the A...

Most cooks are familiar with the thickening properties of corn starch, but potato starch is every bit as much up to the job, say scientists with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). They’re working on a project to further examine the structure and...

New York production of fall potatoes for 2008 is estimated at 5.70 million hundredweight (cwt.), up 9 percent from a year ago. Harvested acreage at 17,800 was down 3 percent from last year. Yields averaged 320 cwt. per acre, breaking the previous rec...

The outlook for the restaurant industry worsened in November, as the National Restaurant Association’s comprehensive index of restaurant activity fell to a record-low level. The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) – a monthly composite ind...

Potato production in the state is expected to reach 22.7 million cwt in 2008 from 81,000 harvested acres, which is down 11 percent from last year. The average production per acre was higher, however, with the 2008 average yield pegged at a record high ...

As of Jan. 1 2009 more than 1,500 fast-food and chain restaurants throughout Seattle and King County will be required to post on their menu boards or some other "easily readable"sign how many calories, milligrams of sodium and grams of satura...

Fact sheets / flyer / leaflet-2008 (PDF, 434 kb)

Hoja Divulgativa -2008 (PDF, 434 kb)

The quick response of the Hartland Fire Department limited the damage to the contents of a storage warehouse in Hartland, NB on Thursday morning. Just before 10:30 a.m., the fire department responded to a call of a structure fire along McLean Avenue in...

US Potato grower-shippers expect more of the same strong pricing in the New Year, which should keep retailers from running perilously low on spuds, as they did last summer.   Year-to-date, as of Dec. 10, Rosholt, Wis.-based Bushmans’ Inc. had shipped a...

Foodservice consultants and research firm Technomic has released its top trends for the restaurant industry in 2009. The consulting group said that while the industry may be facing the toughest New Year in recent memory, opportunities are still present...

The owners of Prince Edward Island potato producer Mid Isle Farms and other local investors have bought the province's potato and blueberry marketing company FoodTrust.

Here's something very Southern California about Hanukkah: Trying to make a world-record setting potato pancake in a solar-paneled oven. "With the new president [of the United States] coming in, the whole thing is about the environment,"said ...

Hopes for National Starch to be sold by the end of the year have been dashed by the credit crisis and a sale is unlikely in the near future, said owner Akzo Nobel. Akzo made clear its intention to seek a new owner for the specialty starches business af...