Potato storage today has come a long way from the wooden shed out back older generations remember. Today, improved aeration systems, thicker gauge steel and innovative designs mean companies like ours can easily build potato storage sheds that hold 215,000 hundredweight and stretch 420 feet in length or more. But, is bigger always better? It entirely depends on your priorities. Building a single large, rather than two or more smaller potato storage…
Valley Chamber of Commerce, Potatoes NB, and Master Promotions Ltd. are working in partnership to bring AgriExpo 2019 to Grand Falls, N.B. The agriculture-focused event will showcase new trends, technology and equipment for farming sectors across New Brunswick, Quebec and Maine. On August 14 and 15, 2019, AgriExpo will welcome thousands of farmers and industry professionals to Grand Falls, showcasing over 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibit space. Attendees will…
As growers head into another production season, some are concerned about Colorado potato beetle populations and rising neonic insecticide resistance. Ian MacRae, a professor and extension entomologist at the University of Minnesota, offered some practical insecticide resistance management steps at Manitoba Potato Production Days in January in Brandon. MacRae kicked off the conference presentations with a talk about Colorado potato beetle management in a post-neonic world. The bottom line is we’re…
Since Spain joined the EU, its potato acreage has dropped from 200,000 hectares down to 65,000 hectares, although it seems that the decline may be coming to an end due to several factors. Firstly, consumers increasingly demand products with better culinary qualities. The potatoes stored at low temperatures, although aesthetically attractive, have disappointed the consumers in terms of taste, motivating them to switch to other products, such as pasta. The new potato…
The World Potato Congress (WPC) is very pleased to be offering its third webinar in its 2019 series with Dr. Gary Secor. Secor is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D, United States. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Montana State University, and his PhD from the University of California-Davis. Secor has worked with numerous potato diseases, concentrating in recent years…
The Potato Association of America is pleased to announce that the special issue of the American Journal of Potato Research (AJPR), Volume 96 Number 2 is now available online. The focus of this publication is “The Contribution of Potatoes to Human Nutrition.” It is the hope of the PAA that this special issue highlights the unique contribution of potato to the human diet, and concurrently expands AJPR readership and the journal’s stature…
The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) have estimated that the upcoming area for consumption potatoes in 2019 will increase between one and two per cent toward almost 604,000 hectares in the five main production countries, driven by estimated increase in the area on the mainland. This is the largest area for more than ten years. This is a first estimation: planting for main crop is only starting and final figures will come…
SPRING 2019 MANITOBA Dan Sawatzky, General Manager, Keystone Potato Producers Association As I write this snapshot of what I am seeing in the Manitoba potato world, both Simplot Canada and McCain Foods are busy with capital projects. Simplot is on track with the construction of a new plant adjacent to their Portage location doubling their capacity and adding to their ability to produce specialty products. McCain is near the end of a…
The previously scheduled dates of the WPC Congress in Ireland (May 24-27, 2021) have been moved by one week to May 31 to June 2, 2021 due to the Dublin Bloom Festival (https://bloominthepark.com/). This will allow 2021 WPC Congress participants and their partners to enjoy this important Irish horticulture event in the city, and for the Irish promotion board ‘Bord Bia’ (one of the major sponsors of WPC and organizer of the Bloom Festival)…
CBC News Fresh potato prices are higher than usual because of shortages after the worst growing season in decades. On P.E.I., Canada’s largest producer of potatoes, it’s estimated about 2,800 hectares of potatoes were left in fields, because the fall was so wet and fields were too muddy to harvest. The season was also late starting due to a cold spring. People in the industry estimate prices for potatoes are up at…