News on Research from the Americas

During the Potatoes USA Summer Meeting held in Seattle August 10, it was announced that the Alliance for Potato Research and Education (APRE) has been restructured in an effort to minimize overhead costs and expand research on potato nutrition.

Earlier this year, Lamb Weston's opened its new Innovation Center in Richland, with co-creation spaces, fully functioning kitchens and a pilot line. The interior was designed by Lamb Westons design agency, Williams Murray Hamm brand agency (WMH), also responsible for Lamb Weston's new global branding

The Prince Edward Island Potato Board, Cavendish Farms, and the PEI Department of Agriculture and Fisheries have announced the creation of the 'Enhanced Agronomy Initiative'.

Justin Clements, a fifth year doctoral student in the Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Center working in the Department of Entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the recipient of the 2016-2017 NPC Academic Scholarship.

The University of Idaho is negotiating a partnership with the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru, involving the sharing of scientific expertise and providing UI’s potato program better access to a vast gene bank.

Participants at the 25th annual Texas Potato Breeding and Variety Development Program field day learned that the harvest is underway, that psyllids are threatening unharvested fields and that new varieties are showing lots of promise.

The annual Potato Field Day in the High Plains featuring the Texas A&M University AgriLife Potato Breeding and Variety Development Program will be July 21.

After five years as the president and CEO of the Alliance for Potato Research and Education (APRE), Maureen Storey, Ph.D., is no longer leading the organization.

The International Potato Center (CIP) has published its annual report for 2015.

Un juez federal de México prohibió el ingreso al país de papa fresca de Estados Unidos ante la posibilidad de que los plaguicidas utilizados en su cultivo generen daños al medio ambiente, a la biodiversidad o a la población.

Esta área de investigación multidisciplinaria, con su capacidad para utilizar eficientemente los recursos genéticos, promete solucionar problemas que van desde curar el cáncer hasta asegurar la comida para la humanidad.

Purple potatoes might not be the first thing that comes to mind when trying to increase vitamin, mineral and antioxidant intake. However, a group of researchers from CSU have recently developed potato varieties that satisfy these nutritional needs and could act as a preventive measure to several diseases.

Entomologist Ada Szczepaniec at Texas A&M AgriLife Research is addressing the concern of growing resistance of potato psyllids to the neonicotinoid classification of insecticides.

York has been working for three years to publicize the 50th anniversary of the invention of the Yukon Gold, a potato bred by Gary Johnston - researcher at the University of Guelph in 1966.

The National Potato Council (NPC) will award one $10,000 academic scholarship to honor a graduate student (Master’s degree or higher) working to improve the future of the US potato industry.

During the 44th Annual Meeting of the National Potato Promotion Board, Board Members voted to change its dba (doing business as—business name) from the United States Potato Board, U.S. Potato Board, or USPB, to Potatoes USA

The Two Blades Foundation (2Blades) announced a research partnership between 2Blades, The Sainsbury Laboratory, and J. R. Simplot Company to develop potato varieties with increased resistance to oomycete and bacterial diseases.

Researchers discovered that in a wild variety of potato (Solanum Microdontum) Calcium levels are about seven times higher than in a regular potato. They developed a molecular marker to facilitate the transfer of the high Calcium trait to newly bred potato varieties.