News on Research from Northern America

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.

Un grupo de investigadores ha descubierto que en la antigüedad, cuando las poblaciones andinas domesticaron la papa y empezaron a ingerirla, su configuración genética cambió, adaptándose para digerir mejor su almidón.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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...

Chemicals in the leaves of potato plants, produced naturally by the plant, may hold the key to a new way to control Colorado potato beetles - a major pest for potato growers.

An experimental 'golden' potato has the potential to provide as much as 42 percent of a child’s recommended daily intake of vitamin A and 34 percent of a child’s recommended intake of vitamin E, according to a study co-led at The Ohio State University.

Un equipo de científicos de la Universidad de Michigan ha identificado a los antepasados de la papa. Con esta información esperan comprender cómo se domesticó y cómo evolucionó su ADN a lo largo del tiempo.

The USDA-NIFA has awarded a grant totaling $388,000 to the University of Maine to study potato breeding and improve quality and pest resistance in the eastern United States.

The government of Canada last week announced a $1.8 million investment in a research project at the University of British Columbia that includes the development of beneficial management practices for increasing the efficiency of fertilizer use in potatoes.