News on Research

The mood was upbeat and confident at the Malin Potato Cooperative in February of 2015. The Merrill, Oregon, agricultural co-op was preparing to open a brand-new, $7 million state-of-the-art potato packing plant.

Growers, suppliers, grubbing demonstrations - everything to do with potatoes. That is what the latest edition of Potato Europe was all about. This year, this trade show was held in Doornik/Tournai, Belgium on 4 and 5 September.

Today Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) announced plans to build The Conagra Brands Center for Food Design in Chicago at 350 N. Orleans Street, located next to its existing headquarters in The Merchandise Mart.

HZPC is continuously growing. The global market leader in innovative breeding, seed potato trading and concept development, today launches its brand update. A big step forward, without losing sight of what has always been its core.

A new study will dig deep into the soil to determine how watering and irrigation methods affect southern Alberta’s potato crops. The research project is a partnership. It is made possible through a grant from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

The last potatoes were planted at the end of April at PotatoEurope’s demo site and until the end of May the participation demands continued to come in. With less than three weeks to go, time for an update!

Australian researchers have developed a technique to analyze potato chips’ physical characteristics from simulated first bite to swallow, which they say could be used to help formulate a tastier low-fat snack.

Scientists discover wild potatoes key for stronger spuds.

Researchers are developing lower-emissions rice varieties, feed additives and other technological innovations to create a more sustainable food system.

Canadian potato processing company Cavendish Farms, a subsidiary of J.D. Irving, announced last week that it will build a new potato research and plant breeding centre in New Annan, Prince Edward Island.

Recent research at the James Hutton Institute suggests that limited genetic differences in potato lineages has left British and American spuds vulnerable to late blight, the disease that caused the Irish potato famine.

WSU plant pathologists Kiwamu Tanaka and Cynthia Gleason are exploring novel approaches to protect the potato crops against nematodes and scab - mobilizing nature itself.

On 10 May, a meeting was held between AuSPICA, members of the Tasmanian Certified Seed Potato Scheme (known as TasSeed) and invited industry representatives.

ILVO, HOGENT and TRIAS in Belgium are hosting a Peruvian delegation to the Food Pilot (ILVO, Melle, Belgium) to get the production of so-called “tuntas” (freeze dried potatoes) in a small cooperative factory in the Andes.

The potato of the future will be more drought tolerant and disease resistant, more environmentally sustainable and climate smart, and meet the needs of producers and consumers.

Ongoing studies at the University of Idaho’s Aberdeen Research & Extension Center seek to help seed potato growers avoid a chronically troublesome disease spread by aphids, called potato virus Y, writes John O’Connell in the Idaho State Journal.

Scientists are creating a “super potato”, fortified with iron and zinc, in a bid to tackle malnutrition in developing countries.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced on 23 June 2019 that Qu Dongyu has been elected its new Director-General.