Potato News from Europe

The International Potato Center (CIP), global seed potato company HZPC and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) have announced a new partnership. Their joint aim is to develop better potatoes for tropical and subtropical conditions.

AHDB Potatoes,has launched a new educational initiative to equip catering students with increased knowledge and practical skills to ‘prep’, ‘cook’ and ‘serve’ great tasting potatoes.

El AFBI (Instituto de Agroalimentación y Biociencias) de Irlanda de Norte ha desarrollado una papa morada, conocida como Purple Magic. Los investigadores la desarrollaron con la esperanza de que tenga propiedades anticancerígenas debido a los efectos beneficiosos de las antocianinas (los pigmentos), que son un tipo de compuestos antioxidantes.

A team of scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) have developed a new method to accelerate isolation of plant disease resistance genes and - using their new method - a brand new source of blight resistance genes in Solanum americanum, a wild relative of the potato.

Desde el departamento agrario de Patatas Meléndez, una empresa española que basa su actividad en la innovación y en la calidad del producto, nos ofrecen diez consejos para realizar la siembra en las mejores condiciones:

Greek potato producers, who can grow potatoes almost year round thanks to the country's favourable climatic conditions, see their sales drop due to import of cheap product from third countries such as Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.

QV Foods prepares to move its March potato packing operation and consolidate all the potato business at its Holbeach site

Avebe and Groningen University are jointly looking into the possibility of housing the Avebe Innovation Centre at the Zernike Campus in the city of Groningen.

French Fry manufacturer McCain Foods (G.B.) Limited has seen profits for financial year ending 30 June 2015 rise to £63.7m (USD 91m) but reported a fall in turnover following a “sluggish” start to the year according to its recent filing in Companies House.

Las patatas procedentes de Francia están desplazando en los mercados a las producidas en España de variedad temprana, justo cuando comienza la comercialización de este tubérculo, especialmente en las comunidades autónomas de Andalucía, Murcia y Valencia.

Delegates of AHDB Potatoes first ever Next Generation Programme overwhelmingly voted McCain Foods as their ‘Best Industry Host’, presenting the award at their final session at AHDB Headquarters, Stoneleigh Park, last month.

KWS is selling its conventional seed potato business to Stet Holland B.V. An agreement to that effect was signed yesterday. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2016.

Dutch Potato Storage Specialist Mooij Agro has built a complete mini storage able to simulate a full scale storage facility, including all relevant settings.

Elveden Farms, a West Suffolk estate is set to become a Regional Research & Demonstration Hub for potato growers and suppliers, thanks to funding from the Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative.

Europatat and Freshfel Europe will jointly celebrate their first common annual meeting on 2 June 2016 in Brussels.

La papa (o patata) española tiene entre sus principales retos el de “contar con un consumidor informado y activo”, conocedor de las bondades de la patata nueva, para poner coto al “engaño” que supone el fraude en la cartelería de algunas grandes superficies. Así lo ha advertido el presidente del sector de Patata de Asociafruit, Marco Román, durante el IV Congreso de la Patata Nueva de España, celebrado en Sevilla.

TOMRA Systems ASA, parent company of sensor-based sorting, process analytics and peeling systems manufacturer TOMRA Sorting Food has announced record currency adjusted revenues for 2015 of 6,143 MNOK (€650m, USD 748m), representing a 16 per cent increase on the previous year.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 151.0 points in March 2016, up 1.0 percent from February, but still 12.0 percent below its March 2015 level. A sharp increase in sugar prices and higher oil prices more than offset a drop of the price of dairy products.