Potato sector officials say they’re working together to make sure key seed potato buyers in countries like Egypt, Morocco and Israel, get the right post-Brexit messages concerning product standards and quality. While customers in these countries choose British seed potatoes for various reasons, their number one buying criteria is the quality of UK produce, according to Sandy McGowan from Fife-based Cygnet PB. McGowan: “We’re an island nation, producing most of our seed…
Syngenta Canada Inc. has launched Orondis® Gold Potato fungicide for suppression of pink rot and Pythium leak in potatoes. Pink rot is a devastating soil-borne disease that thrives in wet, poorly drained soils and can survive in soil for up to seven years. Just a few infected potatoes entering the storage bin can result in substantial losses, infecting healthy tubers and compromising marketable yield. That’s why proactive management of the disease is…
Tasmania is the French fries capital of Australia. Six out of every ten of the tasty, golden-brown chips are grown and processed in this state. Water Minister Guy Barnett and Harvest Moon’s Mark Kable, recently finished a tour of Simplot’s French fry processing facility in Ulverstone. This more or less coincided with the federal government’s announcement on Thursday that the state had been listed as a national priority project for water and…
The government of the Netherlands and Dutch businesses have inked an agreement to undertake a “potato impact cluster” project in Bangladesh. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and a consortium of Dutch businesses joined hands to share their experience and best practices with potato farmers in Bangladesh to improve supply chain in potato sector of Bangladesh. An amount of Euro 900,000 has been allocated for this three-year project, said the Bangladesh Embassy in…
The World Potato Congress (WPC) is looking to increase its networking role for the global professional potato value chain, especially during the interval between congresses. As a result, WPC is setting up a webinar series to bring potato professionals together by offering presentations to share inspiring and innovative knowledge or visions. On Monday, February 25, 2019 at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, WPC President, Romain Cools, will introduce this new communication approach…
Syngenta Canada Inc. is pleased to announce the launch of Minecto® Pro foliar-applied insecticide for broad-spectrum control of key pests in potatoes, apples, pears, and a variety of vegetable crops. Minecto Pro delivers rapid activity through two complementary active ingredients – abamectin (Group 6) and cyantraniliprole (Group 28). Both active ingredients use translaminar movement within the plant to achieve excellent coverage, providing a reservoir of activity for extended residual control of targeted…
Although extremely rare in Canada, potato cyst nematodes (PCN) are such a serious risk to potato production and trade that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has strict surveillance and quarantine protocols. When PCN was discovered in Quebec in 2006, the CFIA immediately implemented quarantine measures for the affected fields. As well, the agency took other important steps, including working with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and other stakeholders to identify research…
Over the past few months, we’ve received an increasing number of requests for new and evermore detailed information from our customers. Suddenly, customers are asking for additional pathogen tests (increasingly for diseases not found in our growing areas), highly specific production details, new traceability verifications, and more. We understand: our customers are being pressured by their customers, so they need to push the questions down the value chain to us, their seed…
I work daily with an awfully smart bunch of farmers and ag suppliers. It takes a team effort to unite technology, data, and good old-fashioned farmer know-how to get the most from a potato field. One of these guys is Western Tractor Company’s precision ag specialist in Burdett, Alta., Joe Bydevaate. I’m always impressed with his insight on yield monitoring, so I thought I’d help him share some here: JB — “Whether…
Solynta, a potato breeding and biotechnology company, announced it has appointed Charles Miller as its commercial director. Miller brings more than 20 years’ experience in leadership roles in the seed industry to Solynta. Before joining Solynta, Miller led Chromatin Inc.’s international business development and sales as vice-president. He was a principal in the sorghum company MMR Genetics/Richardson Seeds, and after its acquisition by NuFarm, became the global development manager for NuFarm’s sorghum…