News on Research from Northern America

Dave Holm was destined to work with potatoes. He was raised on a potato farm in southeast Idaho, where his dad and grandfather instilled in him a love of one of the world’s most important crops.

The Boards of Directors of the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh) will each host a member vote seeking consent in support of the resolution to combine and form a new association serving the global produce and floral industry.

Board Chairman Rob Sarlls and Associate Executive Council (AEC) President David Read Reelected Along with Fellow Officers and AEC Members.

Eighteen years ago, the Idaho® potato industry was in crisis. Consumers were shunning potatoes due to the rising popularity of low-carb diets, the new consumer focus on buying local (locavore movement) was beginning to expand across the country and the Idaho® potato farm gate revenue was declining.

Three awards were presented to well deserving industry members at the Prince Edward Island Potato Board’s monthly meeting in March 2021. In addition, the award winners will be recognized at the PEI Board Annual Banquet in 2022.

Potatoes USA, the marketing and promotion board for the U.S. potato industry, elected new leadership during the Annual Meeting on March 11, 2021. The newly elected Chairman and Executive Committee will lead the Board through 2021-2022.

The Boards of Directors of the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh) have reached an Agreement in Principle to create a new global trade association combining their resources and expertise.

new research from Idaho National Laboratory suggests that potato wastewater might serve well as a low-cost food source for a special bacterium that could be used to recycle high-tech devices, industrial catalysts and other sources of rare earth elements.

On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the IGEM Council awarded Boise State University with a grant in the amount of $291,770 to assist industry partner, Food Physics Group, with research and development of pulsed electric field processing on potatoes to reduce acrylamide and sugars.

Jake Blauer is the newly hired post-harvest potato physiologist at Washington State University.

McCain Foods Limited has made a substantial investment in TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture and its wholly owned subsidiary GoodLeaf Farms, Canada's largest commercial vertical farming operation, to help drive the company's growth and expansion plans.

At the National Potato Council (NPC) 2021 Annual Meeting held virtually due to travel restrictions, Dominic LaJoie of Van Buren, Maine was elected to serve as NPC’s 2021 President and to head the grower-led organization’s Executive Committee.

Bill Guenthner of Guenthner Farms was elected WPVGA Board President for 2021. The WPVGA Associate Division Board of Directors elected Chris Brooks of Central Door Solutions to be its President for 2021. The WSPIA Board of Directors elected J.D. Schroeder of Schroeder Bros. Farms, President for 2021.

McCain Foods Limited has acquired a significant minority share of New Brunswick-based data science company Fiddlehead Technology.

From January 5-7, more than 1,000 U.S. and international potato industry members joined the first-ever virtual Potato Expo. The annual event that kicks off the year for the industry, was brought online for the first time in response to the travel challenges imposed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The World Potato Congress is extremely pleased to present its next webinar on Thursday, February 18, 2021, with Dr. Peter VanderZaag, a potato farmer in Canada and due to COVID-19, now an armchair consultant involved with numerous potato projects in Asia and Africa.

El agricultor Peter Imle intenta reducir a la mitad su cantidad de cromosomas para abrir el camino a muchas nuevas variedades con características más útiles.

Native to the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado potato beetle has now spread to many parts of the world and quickly overcoming almost every pesticide thrown in its way. A new UVM study sheds light on how these insects become resistant so fast.