News on The Potato Supply Chain

Earlier this week, Potato Processor McCain Foods (Canada) announced the company will invest CAD 80 million towards the creation of a new Formed Potato Specialty production line to expand its existing french fry plant in Grand Falls, NB.

A research team has identified a virus infecting Phytophthora infestans, the pathogen causing late blight in potatoes and tomatoes, that appears to increase the pathogen's ability to cause the disease.

Frost last week ended Manitoba’s potato harvest, leaving thousands of acres undug.
It’s the second year wet soils prevented potato farmers from getting all the crop off before heavy frost ruined it.

Potato prices in West Bengal have firmed up by nearly 44 per cent over the last two months on the back of steady demand from other States.

Paraguay: Si bien el domingo pasado se colocaron 2.500 bolsas de 20 kg mediante los intermediarios, la venta nuevamente se paralizó y 5.000 bolsas aguardan en una cámara frigorífica de la Asociación Unida Interdistrital de Paraguarí.

Dewulf, full-liner in machines for the cultivation of potatoes and root crops will show seven machines at its stand at Agritechnica 2019. They range from soil cultivation to planting and from harvesting to storage.

Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. announced that it has signed a research agreement with Boise, Idaho-based J. R. Simplot Company, to evaluate three novel yield traits in potato.

As potato harvest starts to wrap up across the Northwest, how does the 2019 crop look?

Potato processing plants in Manitoba and Alberta may not run at full capacity this winter. About 20,000 acres of potatoes were in the ground in Manitoba as of the middle of October, and growers needed two weeks of favourable weather to harvest the crop.

Rwanda needs about 35,000 tons of quality potato seeds to cover 25 percent of total cultivated land in each growing season. The targeted quantity to fill the existing gap is 60 percent despite persisting challenges.

According to the 'Peru: Departmental Economic Panorama' technical report of the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), which was based on information provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MINAGRI).

UK Storage systems provider Crop Systems Limited is adding new features to its SmartStor® controller, which will help users reduce storage costs, while improving their ability to manage stores remotely on mobile devices. See it at BP2019!

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) have released a new potato production estimate for consumption potatoes in the leading 5 North-Western potato countries. If all potatoes will be lifted totally about 26.9 million tons will be harvested.

Jeroen van Soesbergen, Plantera, Marknesse: 'The fact that there are still varieties that are being trialled is an indication that there certainly is a demand.'

Jeroen Kuin, Agroplant, Medemblik: 'No customer wants to depend on only one or two varieties for processing.'

Willem in 't Anker, C. Meijer BV, Rilland: 'There's a constant need for new potato varieties, also for French fries.'

Tigran Richter, Norika/Binst, Sanitz (D): 'For every interesting potato variety that performs better than what we already have, there's a chance in the market.'

Rindert Dankert, Breeding Company Kooi, Leeuwarden: 'In order to increase a possible success, we focus mainly on the early segment.'