News on Research from Europe

In the annual VTA sampling of the development of the Dutch potato crop development, mid August a yield was found 16% lower than last year and 7.1 below the 5 year average.

A new two year research project will harness the latest aeronautic industry technology to develop testing tools that will help crop store owners to optimise the efficiency of their premises.

Scientific results of the potato field trials in Flanders and the Netherlands demonstrate that gene stacking is necessary for a strong and lasting resistance to late blight (Phytophthora infestans).

Spain's potato sector is once again hampered by a price crisis, with producers failing even to cover their production costs.

The AHDB Potatoes ‘Next Generation’ tour kicked off in Yorkshire last month, visiting two progressive Yorkshire based potato processing businesses.

New branding and a proposed new way of working for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) was formally launched at the Cereals event in Lincolnshire earlier this month.

Researchers in the United Kingdom aim for a new commercial potato that resists many of the worst vulnerabilities of potato crops around the world.

AHDB Potatoes launched its first ever ‘Next Generation’ programme, a series of 9 business and technical days that - for a selected few - will provide exposure to the whole supply chain.

In the latest Consumer Category Report of the Potato Council, one of the topics addressed is the online sales of fresh potatoes - including actual growth, comparison to competitive products and grocery in general as well as future opportunities

A team of researchers tracking the 2014 population of the potato late blight pathogen have added to the 2013 data to extend the spatial diversity plots and combine this with novel genetic analysis tools that visualise the distribution and diversity of dominant clones and reveals novel genetically diverse isolates in some regions.

A small field on an island off the Netherlands' northern coast promises one answer to the problem of how to feed the world's ever-growing population: potatoes and other crops that grow in saltwater.

Each year, large quantities of ware and seed are exported from the United Kingdom to the Canary Islands. Potato Council’s head of seed and export, Rob Burns, updates on the current difficulties affecting this long established trade agreement.

Researchers from Ghent University and the International Potato Center have discovered that sweet potatoes naturally contain genes from a bacterium. Because of the presence of this 'foreign' DNA, sweet potato can be seen as a 'natural gmo'.

In this week 'Nature Plants', scientists from Wageningen University and The Sainsbury Laboratory report the identification of a resistance gene that enhances resistance against potato late blight from a South American wild relative of cultivated potatoes.

At the Anuga FoodTec trade fair from 24 to 27 March in Cologne, Insort presents the latest innovation in process monitoring for food production with its 'Sherlock food analyser'.

Late last week, the Potato Council published its annual GB Potatoes Market Intelligence report, wrapping up all key information about the GB potato market in order to inform decision-making and provide answers for common questions about the industry.

Pizzoli S.p.A., Italy's largest operator in the potato sector and Bio-on S.p.A., the leader in eco-sustainable chemical technologies, will collaborate to build Italy's first PHAs bioplastic production plant using waste product from the potato agro-industrial process.

TOMRA Sorting Food will reveal the latest addition to its steam peeling portfolio at Anuga FoodTec, later this month. The Odyssey steam peeler is the ideal cost-effective steam peeling solution for seasonal processing companies and emerging markets.