Potato News from Alaska

January 19, 2021

Time for the Tlingit Potato

Genetically distinct from its European counterparts, this coastal Alaska potato predates modern taste for russets and Yukon Golds.

September 24, 2015

Warm summer in Alaska results in good potato yields for farms with irrigation

Alaskan potato farms with irrigation had a good year, but farms that didn't have irrigation lost much of their potato yield.

Professor Jenifer Huang McBeath is pictured in a rice field in China.

January 13, 2014

UAF scientist veers toward potato research when life brings a detour

Jenifer Huang McBeath of the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been researching biological controls and developing environmentally friendly methods for farmers to combat plant diseases since 1985. She never intended to switch her focus to potatoes...

October 07, 2011

University of Alaska pursuing first plant patent for potato variety

Golden birch trees marked the edge of Greg Kalal's fields, but the dentist-turned-farmer was more interested in hues beneath the soil on his land south of Mount McKinley. Among the thousands of colorful potatoes — from yellow German Butterballs to Mag...

October 04, 2011

Scientists look for source of Alaska potato blight

Potato late blight, that same disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine, resurfaced in Alaska this fall. This wasn’t the first time the disease, widespread in the Lower 48 and worldwide, came to Alaska. Plant pathologist Jenifer McBeath suspects it...

September 01, 2011

Late blight hits potatoes in Alaska

Late blight has shown up in the fields of two potato producers, in Palmer and Delta Junction. Alaska. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service is working with major potato producers to help prevent the spread.

August 30, 2011

New potato developed for the Alaska market

A new line of potato developed at the University of Alaska (at the Matanuska Experiment Farm in Palmer) stands to boost Alaska's agriculture industry with its consumer plate appeal. “It has high potential,” said Carol Lewis, dean of the University of ...