potatonewstoday

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Potato blight warnings issued across the UK

Potato blight warnings issued across the UK

Potato blight has raised its ugly head in parts of the UK late in the season, following a spate of turbulent weather, Claire Taylor reports for The Scottish Farmer.

She writes that the Blightwatch alert system – hosted by the AHDB and the MET Office – has displayed red warnings indicating the highest level of blight threat, with Scottish outbreaks expected in Forfar and Ayr.

In England, the…

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US: Washington State potato industry averts worst case scenario during pandemic

US: Washington State potato industry averts worst case scenario during pandemic

Shawn Goggins reports that Washington State’s potato industry has lost $995,000,000 due to the pandemic, but the seemingly stratospheric figure is the better scenario, according Chris Voigt of the Washington Potato Commission.

Goggins reports that in mid-April of this year, industry experts predicted that 1 billion pounds of unsold and/or wasted potatoes. But, as the phased reopening of each…

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Idaho potatoes’ dominance in charts

Idaho potatoes’ dominance in charts

“All apologies to Forrest Gump’s momma, but if life were like a bag of Idaho potatoes, we would always know what we were going to get,” writes Matt DeBoer, senior vice president of Agtools Inc. in an article published by Blue Book Services.

DeBoer writes in his article that while the Idaho state slogan may be “Let it be Perpetual”, an argument could be made for a change to “Let it be Potatoes”…

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American lawmakers encourage action on potato dispute with Mexico

American lawmakers encourage action on potato dispute with Mexico

A group of U.S. Senators is encouraging action to be taken in the potato dispute with Mexico. In a letter sent to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the lawmakers urged more support for U.S. exports of fresh potatoes. Mexico was the third most important destination for potato exports in the marketing year 2019, valued at $239 million. Brian…

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France: Pandemic brought uncertainty to potato markets; focus need to be on quality, says UNPT

France: Pandemic brought uncertainty to potato markets; focus need to be on quality, says UNPT

Covid-19 has shaken up all predictions and profoundly changed the fundamentals of the 2019 campaign in France and the rest of Europe. On the French fresh market, it has meant a revival in terms of household consumption. For the industry, on the other hand, it has caused factories to slow down due to the very sharp decline in restaurant activity all over the world. So says the National Union of…

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Kooljet: Equipment designed to maintain relative humidity in storages and avoid product weight loss

Kooljet: Equipment designed to maintain relative humidity in storages and avoid product weight loss

Relative Humidity (RH) is the measure of the quantity of water vapor in the air at a certain temperature. Maintaining desired pile temperature is important but equally important is to maintain the optimum humidity, explains JD Wasir, Sr. Vice President at Ontario, Canada based Kooljet Refrigeration Systems.

“RH plays a vital role, as it affects the rate at which produce transpire,” JD Wasir…

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Processing markets in Britain look to the return of education sectors; exports started strongly

Processing markets in Britain look to the return of education sectors; exports started strongly

Free-buy potato markets in the UK continue to see pressure on prices. Increasingly available supply for markets has met a widespread muted level of demand, writes Alex Cook in the latest issue of AHDB’s Potato Weekly report.

Trade has remained on a steady level, consisting of mostly repeat orders. Contracted movement continues to dominate potato markets with a smaller level of free-buy tonnage…

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Novel decision support tool under development for preventative in-field potato disease testing

Novel decision support tool under development for preventative in-field potato disease testing

“The biggest challenges of the 21st century are population growth, scarcity of resources and climate change. To meet the challenge, we need to establish new approaches to sustainable food production,” says Sarah Sommer, a postdoctoral researcher working on multiplexed potato virus lateral flow assays at Newcastle University (School of Natural and Environmental Sciences) in the UK.

To help…

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How EU potato producers are coping with COVID impact

How EU potato producers are coping with COVID impact

It’s not every day you get to meet a world-renowned potato expert in person, especially under current conditions. But the rules around social distancing have relaxed somewhat in Belgium, which allowed me to up meet Romain Cools in person, writes Melanie Epp, contributing writer for US based Spudman magazine in a recent article.

We talked about COVID-19’s impact on the Belgian potato market…

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Oyster reef restoration efforts in Florida get help from potato chip byproduct

Oyster reef restoration efforts in Florida get help from potato chip byproduct

Longtime work to restore oyster reefs in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon has found a new, unusual ally: potato chips.

A news article published on ScienceBlogsays the Coastal and Estuarine Ecology Lab at UCF has been experimenting with various products looking for an effective, biodegradable material for restoration that’s inexpensive. For the past 14 months the group has been testing a mesh made…

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'British potato crops at risk of disease during slower desiccation', say specialists

‘British potato crops at risk of disease during slower desiccation’, say specialists

Potato growers in the UK are at risk of virus and disease threat if they do not follow an integrated approach to new desiccation regimes, say experts working on the third year of desiccation trials taking place across AHDB Farm Excellence sites.

Results and observations at the trial sites have shown that the slower ‘kill’ achieved by the chemical and mechanical alternatives to diquat means…

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New Zealand: Health Ministry refuses Covid exemption for potato crisp and biscuit workers

New Zealand: Health Ministry refuses Covid exemption for potato crisp and biscuit workers

The Ministry of Health is moving to counter criticism that it is using its powers to exempt trucks and workers moving in and out of Auckland to restrict workers going to jobs in potato crisp factories. Richard Harman reports for POLITIK.

The chief executive of the Food and Grocery Council, Katherine Rich, is particularly critical that the role of granting the exemption to cross in and out of…

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Coronavirus reduced Egypt’s potato exports by 25 percent

Coronavirus reduced Egypt’s potato exports by 25 percent

The head of the Union for Producers and Exporters of Horticultural Crops (UPEHC) Mohamed Heggi announced Saturday that Egypt’s exports of potatoes this year has fallen by 25 percent, due to the coronavirus crisis and its impact on exports in general. Al-Masry Al-Youm reports for Egypt Independent.

Egypt exported 673,000 tons of potatoes this year, falling short of the target for 850,000 tons.…

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In-depth study looks at the impact of COVID-19 on the potato supply chain in the US

In-depth study looks at the impact of COVID-19 on the potato supply chain in the US

When COVID-19 hit, the dynamics in the food supply chain were catapulted into completely uncharted waters, the team at ClimateAI writes in an article published on Medium. The article is titled “It Takes More than You Think to Keep the Food System Running During a Pandemic“.

[California based ClimateAI seeks to make farming more profitable and food systems more resilient by bringing climate…

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'Grow Your Own Potatoes' project in Britain a success despite pandemic crisis

‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ project in Britain a success despite pandemic crisis

Keeping children engaged in the Grow Your Own Potatoes (GYOP) project has been a priority for AHDB Potatoes’ education team, ever since schools closed back in March, not long after planting their potatoes as part of this year’s GYOP project.

GYOP was launched in 2004 and since then over 5 million childrenin Britain have discovered where potatoes come from, how they grow and their health…

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Dry weather, dusty fields growing concern in Maine’s potato country

Dry weather, dusty fields growing concern in Maine’s potato country

Potato farmers are worried about their crops as the northern part of the state experiences one of the driest summers on record, according to a report by Associated Press journalist David Sharp.

In Aroostook County, which is experiencing a severe drought, there has been no heavy rain since before Memorial Day, potentially reducing the yield, said Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine…

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Lay’s introduces potato chip flavors modeled after countries

Lay’s introduces potato chip flavors modeled after countries

Lay’s is hoping some new potato chip flavors can partially satisfy some cravings folks may have for the food at some of their favorite travel destinations. Since you can’t hop on a plane, Lay’s is bringing the destination to customers, reports Sara Maslar-Donar for WKOW 27 News.

The four new flavors feature Greece, Thailand, Mexico, and Germany. For Greece, the chip has a tzatziki flavor. For…