Potato News

Manitoba’s potato sector is gearing up to supply an expanding industry but seed supplies will be tight after a tough harvest last season. A number of producers are planning capital upgrades to keep up with the rise in demand.

The legal battle between a number of potato farmers in Gujarat accused of illegally growing a proprietary variety and food and beverage manufacturer PepsiCo India may be headed for an out-of-court settlement.

Bühler Aeroglide, a global leader in thermal process engineering and technology for food, feed, and industrial materials, has announced the appointment of Andreas Kratzer, PhD, as new President and CEO, effective April 1, 2019.

UK vegetable harvesting and handling equipment manufacturer, Scotts Precision Manufacturing, is celebrating after receiving its biggest ever order from Canada.

The latest estimates from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) show British potato stock levels were down 13 per cent on the five-year average. However, comparable to other tight supply seasons, they were a little higher.

Spring is just now beginning to shine in much of eastern Oregon and Washington. A winter of record snowfall left the ground frozen or flooded much later than normal. As a result, farmers are getting a late start on their crops.

An analysis of the latest Nielsen data provided by the Private Label Manufacturing Association reveals that private label dollar volume in the mass retail channel surged +41% over the last five years, compared to a gain of only +7.4% for national brands.

The opening of a new potato processing plant in Engineer town, Nyandarua county (Kenya) offers new opportunities for local potato farmers.

The Environment Agency in the UK has already declared irrigation prospects ‘moderate to poor’ in the East of England – in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. AHDB offers suggestions to place farmers in a stronger position this summer.

Supermarkets of the near-future will have their business models radically re-shaped by innovations instore, online, and in the food industry supply chain.

Penobscot McCrum is planning to build a new potato processing plant at the site of a long-closed potato factory in Washburn, Maine.

Potato growers near Pemberton in Western Australia have been forced to leave more than a thousand tonnes of potatoes on the ground to rot because of oversupply and crippling low prices.

Leading farmers unions and rights advocacy groups have demanded that the PepsiCo immediately withdraw all legal suits it has slapped on many potato farmers in different districts of Gujarat.

Irish potatoes have prevented another major humanitarian food crisis in one of the poorest and most remote parts of Ethiopia, according to aid organization Concern Worldwide.

According to reporting by CNBC, Kraft Heinz is considering the sale of its Ore-Ida potato brand in order to pay down its debt

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) have estimated that the upcoming area for
consumption potatoes in 2019 will increase between 1 and 2 % towards almost 604.000 ha in the 5
main production countries.

Nick and Kimberly Marckwald wanted to open a restaurant. Then came the day in 2015 when they were selling a lot of potato chips and the restaurant was still stalled, and Nick told Kimberly he thought they had to choose. They chose the chips.

ARS Researchers studied potato tubers from the Klamath Basin in Oregon infected with the causal bacteria of zebra chip disease. They confirmed the presence of the pathogen but did not identify the sample as one of the six known varieties (haplotypes).