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…
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…
The humble potato may just be an important food for the future of space exploration. A recent experiment has taken place in the Peruvian capital of Lima. It saw a potato plant growing in conditions similar to what you might find on the surface of Mars. Experiments were conducted using Peru’s desert soil. Conditions were set up to mimic the harsh climate on Mars. These included an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide….
After 20 years of biotechnological research, the first GMO potato that is resistant to the PVY virus is said to go on sale to the public next year in Argentina. The potato’s productive and economic benefits are estimated at 45 million dollars per year in the Argentine market alone. This transgenic potato is the result of an achievement by Technoplant, a subsidiary of the Sidus group of companies. On August 8 of…
What goes around comes around at Cavendish Farms in New Annan, P.E.I. — potato scraps from the french-fry plant are used at the nearby biogas facility to fuel the fry factory they came from. According to the company, generating biogas allowed it to reduce its dependency on fuel oil by 30 per cent, reducing greenhouse gases by about 35,000 tonnes — the equivalent of taking 7,300 cars off the road for one year….