News on The Potato Supply Chain from Northern America

Potato Production United States 2016: the USDA-NASS has just published its most extensive report on last year's potato production: 'Potatoes 2016 (Summary)'

A Cuban delegation visited the main seed potato companies in Quebec in early August, organized by Progest 2001 Inc.

As the potato season in Maine is coming to an end, John Jemison, a soil and water quality specialist for the University of Maine is reflecting on the season and what the harvest might bring.

The Japanese government lifted on Tuesday an import ban on potatoes grown in Idaho, the largest U.S. potato producer, for the first time in 11 years after confirming a lowered risk of pest invasion, sources familiar with the matter said.

Lakeside Farms Ltd. of Greenfield was named the 2016-2017 McCain Champion Potato Grower for Florenceville-Bristol, NB during the 44th Annual McCain Growers’ Banquet held August 23 at the Northern Carleton Civic Centre.

The spring weather in Oregon may not have been ideal, but potato farmer Tony Amstad, owner of Amstad Farms, is still pleasantly surprised with the size and quality of his early season potatoes.

In a visit to the Nematode Quarantine laboratory at Cornell University last Friday, US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, announced a commitment of $400,000 from the USDA for the upgrades to the facilities and equipment.

At the annual Idaho Grower Shipper Association convention, Frank Muir, President of the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) revealed the marketing plans for the upcoming year.

Les Fermes LP Thériault & Fils of Drummond was named the 2016-2017 McCain Champion Potato Grower for Grand Falls during the 43rd annual McCain Growers’ Banquet held August 22 at Centre E.& P. Sénéchal

Exports of all United States potatoes and potato products reached a record $1,758,130,172 for the July 2016 – June 2017 marketing year. U.S. exports also achieved a record volume level of 1,712,364 metric tons (MT).

The National Potato Council (NPC) led a delegation of 6 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff on a tour of Idaho potato fields during the week of August 14.

More than 300 people stopped by Fredericton Research and Development Centre's open house

Red River Valley potato growers generally have avoided drought and deluge this growing season. That bodes well for the soon-to-begin 2017 harvest.

Idaho Potato industry officials report yields are down significantly as Western Idaho growers have started with their early harvest of Russet Norkotahs for the fresh market.

Adrienne Gorny, a fourth-year doctoral student in Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology at Cornell University, is the recipient of the 2017-2018 NPC Academic Scholarship.

Dirk Hays,Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant geneticist: “With Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), we can image the size of the tubers and get a correlation to the actual physical size of the potato without harvesting them. Potatoes are a dream for Ground Penetrating Radar.”

The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) announces that Produce industry veteran Dave Rhodes has joined their team as Retail Promotion Director-Northeast, based in Indianapolis, Indiana

Old Oak Farms®, RPE’s core commodity brand, is bringing new life to the fingerling potato category with Party Potatoes®. In hopes to share the party nationwide, RPE has created multi-themed promotional campaign that will span over the next several months.