Portage la Prairie, Man., April 16, 2019 – Yesterday, McCain Foods (Canada) celebrated the 40th anniversary of its Portage la Prairie, Man., facility and also officially opened its new potato receiving area at a special ceremony hosted onsite at the potato processing facility. Manitoba dignitaries, including Premier Brian Pallister and Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler among others were in attendance, as were local growers from the Keystone Potato Producers Association, McCain executives and…
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 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…
Potato storage holdings in Canada totaled 56.9 million hundredweight on Feb. 1, a 9.2 per cent decline from the same time in 2018, according to the United Potato Growers of Canada. Storage holdings were down in every potato-producing province except for British Columbia, where holdings were up substantially at 36 per cent. According to UPGC General Manager, Kevin MacIsaac, British Columbia’s crop was below average last year so the increase returned that…
The UPGC board of directors met last week in Halifax and reviewed the potato crop and market status across Canada. Overall Potato Stocks for March 1st are down 11.5% or 6.3 million hundredweight compared to March 1 of 2018. Fresh stocks are down 16.6% compared to a year ago and potatoes intended for processing are down 4,287,000 cwt. Seed stocks are 5.6% below one year ago. Prince Edward Island Fresh potato movement…
Idaho Russet potatoes are going to be short until the new crop comes in late summer. “Part of this is because there’s really good demand from the dehydration and frozen sector and they’re dipping into potatoes that normally go into the fresh market,” says Kent Sutton at Rexburg, Id.-based Bench Mark Potato Co. Inc. And while last fall Idaho fared with a relatively normal crop, Sutton notes that approximately 10,000 acres of…
Challenging weather conditions in most potato producing areas in Canada — including a cold, wet harvest season that resulted in thousands of acres of potatoes being left in the ground — resulted in a smaller crop in 2018. Statistics Canada figures released Dec. 13 show total potato production in Canada last year was 103.8 million hundredweight, down 2.6 per cent from 2017. According to StatsCan, the total amount of unharvested acres in…
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…