News on The Potato Supply Chain from Northern America

The National Potato Council (NPC) welcomed yesterday’s reintroduction of the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and urges its rapid passage in the House of Representatives.

Jake Blauer is the newly hired post-harvest potato physiologist at Washington State University.

At the National Potato Council (NPC) 2021 Annual Meeting held virtually due to travel restrictions, Dominic LaJoie of Van Buren, Maine was elected to serve as NPC’s 2021 President and to head the grower-led organization’s Executive Committee.

On February 17, 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court released a draft ruling that would overturn a 2017 lower court decision preventing the Mexican federal government from implementing regulations to allow the import of fresh US potatoes throughout the country.

United States potato exports continue to recover but remain behind previous year levels. Exports for the first six months of the marketing year, July – December 2020, are behind the record levels set in 2019.

Bill Guenthner of Guenthner Farms was elected WPVGA Board President for 2021. The WPVGA Associate Division Board of Directors elected Chris Brooks of Central Door Solutions to be its President for 2021. The WSPIA Board of Directors elected J.D. Schroeder of Schroeder Bros. Farms, President for 2021.

HZPC Americas Corp. hired Aron Derbidge as Sales and Key Account Manager. According to a press release issued today, the company notes that Aron brings with him over 10 years of experience developing and marketing seed potatoes in the U.S. and Canada.

Long-time potato and vegetable growers Norm and Marv Worzella of Worzella & Sons, Inc., Plover, Wisconsin, were inducted into the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association Hall of Fame at the industry’s annual awards ceremony held February 3, 2021.

As winter weather dominates the country, customers are encouraged to Break the Ice with Polar White potato promotion

In the end, 2020 was a pretty good year for Idaho’s iconic potato industry, but it sure wasn’t easy.

The amount and quality of the potatoes coming off Chad Berry’s field last fall weren’t that much different from one side to the other, but one half came with a lot less tillage.

With the inauguration of US President Biden a week behind us now, Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council discusses what the impact of the new administration on the potato industry might be.

From January 5-7, more than 1,000 U.S. and international potato industry members joined the first-ever virtual Potato Expo. The annual event that kicks off the year for the industry, was brought online for the first time in response to the travel challenges imposed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The owners of a potato facility in New Annan confirm they will not dispute a CAD 1,000 fine they received following a spill of waste water at the end of 2020.

The World Potato Congress is extremely pleased to present its next webinar on Thursday, February 18, 2021, with Dr. Peter VanderZaag, a potato farmer in Canada and due to COVID-19, now an armchair consultant involved with numerous potato projects in Asia and Africa.

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

Record potato retail sales continued from October to December 2020, the second quarter of Potatoes USA’s marketing year 2021. All three months saw an increase in both dollar and volume sales, with the largest growth in December.

Given the unusual times of a global pandemic, the Idaho Potato Conference shifted from the annual in-person conference held in Pocatello to three days of virtual presentations.