News on Research from the Americas

Three Belgian organisations, ILVO, HOGENT and TRIAS help a local Peruvian agricultural cooperative and university to optimize the semi-industrial production of their traditional tuntas - white freeze-dried potatoes (Chuño)

Ahmad Al-Mallahi, working at Dalhousie University since October as the McCain Research Chair and assistant professor in the Department of Engineering, is working on sensors and automation to make potato farming smarter.

Researchers with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture will lead a new DARPA program of $7.5 million to use potato plants as a new, revolutionary sensor platform to detect environmental threats to deployed troops and civilians.

Un estudio alemán apoya los resultados obtenidos por el Instituto Leloir de Argentina: los genes del reloj biológico de las plantas, que les permite adaptarse a los cambios de luz durante el día y las estaciones, podrían aumentar su rendimiento.

Processing and Packaging Equipment manufacturer tna will present the latest cutting-edge solutions for the confectionery and snack industries at this year’s Pack Expo International in Chicago. One of the highlights in the tna booth is its new tna intelli-flav® OMS 5.1 seasoning system.

Last Friday, the University of Lethbridge has opened the doors to its Potato Research Lab to showcase the work being done to support potato growers and processors.

Farmers, researchers and members of the public gathered at the University of Maine’s Aroostook Research Farm in Presque Isle last Wednesday to learn about the latest in potato research.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Albany, California, have found a way to streamline the process that scientists use to insert multiple genes into a crop plant. Simplot is planning to use it to introduce multiple genes into potatoes to make them resistant to late blight

J.R. Simplot has acquired a license for CRISPR-Cas9 and related gene editing tools. This provides Simplot with another avenue to add desirable traits to fruits and vegetables, including potatoes.

Tubers were the talk of the town in Cusco, Peru during the week of May 27, when the 10th World Potato Congress (WPC) and the 28th Congress of the Latin American Potato Association (ALAP) were held together for the first time.

To help monitor salt intake, researchers have developed a flexible and stretchable wireless sensing system designed to be comfortably worn in the mouth to measure the amount of sodium a person consumes.

El pelado y los daños mecánicos en la papa generan manchas pardas o negras. Con edición génica, investigadores del INTA de Argentina lograron modificar el gen de polifenol oxidasa, cuya enzima provoca la oxidación.

Potato cultivation has a number of quirks that make it both a prime candidate for precision agriculture and a little different than other crops

Investigadores de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) y del Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) lograron obtener una versión más robusta y con más tubérculos del cultivo.

McCain Foods Limited has completed a strategic investment in TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture, an innovative Canadian agricultural technology company that has developed proprietary indoor vertical farming technology to grow fresh and nutritious leafy greens.

The Colorado potato beetle is notorious for its role in starting the pesticide industry - and for its ability to resist the insecticides developed to stop it. Now scientists have sequenced the beetle’s genome, probing its genes for clues to its surprising adaptability.

Por primera vez se busca utilizar microorganismos presentes en diversos cultivos para generar bíoproductos naturales que tengan relaciones beneficiosas con el cultivo.

When some Colombian potato varieties are lightly grazed by a pest, the plants respond by growing larger tubers, at times doubling their yields. Researchers see an opportunity and want to know more...