News on The Potato Supply Chain from Northern America

White potatoes are due to be back in a federal nutrition program for low-income women and children. After lobbying by Idaho's congressional delegation, the potato was included from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's nutrition programs, including the...

The President of the World Potato Congress (WPC) Inc. Mr Allan Parker, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the Chairman of the WPC Awards Committee, Mr Douglas (Doug) Harley, Kinross, Scotland, have announced that nominations are now being called for t...

The Prince Edward Island Potato Board is donating 18,000 kilogram of top-quality spuds to the Greater Boston Food Bank. The donation is part of International Year of the Potato. Ivan Noonan, a board spokesman, says Boston is a very important market f...

The NCERA (North Central Research and Extension Activity) 205 group met in East Lansing during late March 2008. The group was composed of members from Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado and Nebraska potato industries. Michigan atten...

Farms whose produce is used in federal food programs or sold to an increasing number of major processors and fresh packers must pass U.S. Department of Agriculture Good Agricultural Practices audits, a task that can be daunting. To help Idaho's potato...

The U.S. and Canada have agreed on a new protocol to deal more effectively with future outbreaks of potato cyst nematodes. Under the new protocol, dirt from fields in Canada and the U.S. that produce seed potatoes will need to be sampled using a full-f...

Among the most maligned and misunderstood of vegetables, the lowly potato may be poised to save the world. Or, at least, many of the world's hungry and poor, according to the United Nations, which has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato....

As food prices around the world climb, Idaho's potato growers are hoping a renewed push for their products brings a healthy return. But they're also pushing potatoes as a way to help hungry people abroad who can't afford much else. The World Bank estim...

"Nourishing our future” is the theme for the World Potato Congress 2009 (WPC 2009), with a focus around the nutritional and sustainable aspects of the potato. Chairman of the Potato Product Group of Horticulture New Zealand, Terry Olsen said that ...

New varieties and packaging styles worked for apples, tomatoes and berries. The same kind of innovations could give spuds a boost at retail, too, according to the new head of the U.S. Potato Board. Shoppers are demanding more choice, and potato growers...

At a special meeting Thursday, the Washington State Potato Conference and Trade Show board voted unanimously to relocate the 2009 event to the Tri-Cities Convention Center in Kennewick, instead of in Moses Lake, its base since its inception 47 years ag...

Piper's love of potato farming was known to all in the industry, and it led him to work with Potatoes New Brunswick. Executive director Robert Gareau said Piper spent six years with Potatoes NB, five of which he served on the executive as treasurer, v...

Wada Farms Marketing Group LLC, Idaho Falls, and Farm Fresh Direct LLC, Monte Vista, Colo., have formed Category Partners LLC, a marketing company that will concentrate on category management, innovative products and packaging and promotions, according...

The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) today launched the iTuber Take II video contest on the popular website, YouTube, inviting spud lovers from across the country to work their magic in front of the camera with America's favorite vegetable: the Idaho Pot...

ConAgra Foods Inc. bought Watts Brothers, a private vegetable-processing and agricultural company, for about $132 million in cash and assumed liabilities. In a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, ConAgra said that the assumed ...

Four months after potato growers in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota agreed to join Salt Lake City-based United Potato Growers of America, that membership could be in jeopardy, adding another chapter to an on-again/off-again relations...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has established a new destination inspection process for Canadian potatoes entering the U.S., as part of a new trade agreement between the two countries.The objective of this process i...

Bart Connors of Pasco, WA, was elected Chairman of the United States Potato Board (USPB) on March 14 at the organization’s Annual Meeting in Denver, CO. Connors is the general manager of Skone & Connors Produce.