No-nonsense, no-frills potato news stories from around the world
It’s the New Year, which means many of us are trying to eat better, save money and find more time in our day. Cara Harbstreet, registered dietitian and intuitive eating expert, recommends a kitchen hero that’s a solution for it all: the potato… “Potatoes are America’s favorite vegetable, but they’re more than just delicious,” said Harbstreet. “They’re an affordable, nutritional powerhouse with a long shelf life and faster cook times than you think!”
Potatoes have received a key health boost on the back of a major research project recently completed by staff at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in the United States. The study confirms that the potato is a healthy vegetable, filled with nutrients and packed with health benefits. Wilson’s Country managing director Lewis Cunningham believes the Pennington study ‘re-writes the rule book’ in terms of potatoes’ perception as part of a healthy diet.
Today McCain Foods Limited (McCain) released its Sustainability Report, underpinning its commitment to producing delicious, planet-friendly food. The report includes the organizations sustainability results from the past Fiscal Year, demonstrating how McCain is responding to the challenges faced by climate change, its priority on enhancing soil health and farming partners’ transition to more regenerative practices.
Also known as ‘Johnny Potato Seed’, this small farmer turned a plot of land in Wisconsin into the epicenter of an international potato breeding movement, writes Bevin Cohen in a news article for Modern Farmer. Caravati founded the Kenosha Potato Project (KPP) in 2007. KPP quickly grew into an online community of thousands of both novice and experienced potato growers from around the world.
The latest global potato statistics provided by the FAO via its FAOSTAT database were updated in December, 2022. We extracted this 2021 data as it relates to “total production” (in metric tonnes) and present the results for 100 potato producing countries in the table below (ranging from most to least). According to the FAO data, a total of 376 million tonnes of potatoes were produced world wide, with China (94 million tonnes) and India (54 million tonnes) the largest potato producing countries in 2021.
A new report by Expert Market Research gives an in-depth analysis of the global frozen potato products market. According to the report, the growing popularity of quick service restaurants (QSRs) in both developing and developed countries is driving the global frozen potato market. North America and Europe dominate the business, but the Asia-Pacific area is likely to become one of the most profitable frozen potato marketplaces in the near future.
The last eight years have been the eight warmest on record as the growing concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere pushes global temperatures toward a dangerous tipping point, a new report shows. As Ivana Kottasová reports for CNN, an analysis by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service published on Tuesday said that 2022 was the fifth-warmest year for the planet since records began.
TOMRA Food’s Processed Food business area has appointed its first Global Category Director for Vegetables and Fruit. The new role – created as part of TOMRA’s ongoing strategy to tailor solutions even more precisely to specific food categories – has been filled by Belgian Jacob Hobbel.
You’re familiar with whey, pea, and soy, but potato protein? It might not be just a fad, writes Julia Savacool in a news story published by Yahoo!life. According to Savacool, a new study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise finds that consuming protein extracted from potatoes has the same benefits for helping your body rebound after a workout as consuming milk protein.
Pulsemaster, a leading provider of Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) systems for the potato processing industry, earlier today announced the appointment of Ben Lemieux as Key Account Manager responsible for the Americas region. Mr. Lemieux joins Pulsemaster with 28 years of experience in the food processing industry. He is based in Canada’s New Brunswick province.
Following 16 years of dedicated volunteer service to the World Potato Congress Inc., Mr. John Griffin will be stepping down from his role of President of the World Potato Congress Inc. Dr. Peter VanderZaag will step into the role of President and CEO of WPC Inc. WPC also announced Dr. Nora Olsen as the new Vice-President of the World Potato Congress. Brian Douglas accept the nomination of Director to the Board.
Worldwide growers face severe issues with the allocation of fumigants, reduced control from conventional nematicides, or bio- and conventional nematicides that provide suppression or just don’t work. Vigilance Nematicide is GroPro’s patented bio-nematicide, providing fumigation and in-field application control, and it’s a proven nematicide that has gone head-to-head in multiple fields and demo trials worldwide with both conventional and bio-based nematicides.
“I recently visited a state-of-the-art potato storage in western Manitoba, a very large building with all the bells and whistles,” writes Peter Alder, Appraiser at FFC in this technical article. “I could feel the excitement and pride shared by the owner of this large facility as it promises to deliver everything a pile of potatoes would ever need to make it through the storage season in great condition and deliver a great quality product just-in-time to the processing plant.”
Dear folks. I want to wish each and all of our readers a very happy 2023! Potato News Today registered a little over 12,000 visitors each month during the past year, and we surely appreciate all of you from well over 140 countries for stopping in and spending some of your time here with us – thank you so much… We will continue reporting important potato news stories as best we can in 2023, and we hope you will visit us whenever you can! With kindest wishes, Lukie. www.potatonewstoday.com
Flavoured fries brand Potato Corner recently opened stores in London, Dubai and its 1,400th store, further expanding its global presence to five continents. “We’re very pleased with the growth momentum of Potato Corner, and we look forward to further increase its footprint,” Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Vicente L. Gregorio said. The brand was acquired this year by Shakey’s, a leading casual dining restaurant chain and food service group in the Philippines.
Scientists in South America are tapping the power of wild potatoes to breed disease-resistant and resilient varieties. The recent release of the International Potato Center’s (CIP) disease-resistant CIP-Matilde variety in Peru is the result of years of work and investment in conserving and studying potato wild relatives and using them to breed potatoes that combine characteristics that consumers want with the wild potatoes’ ability to cope with diseases and climate extremes.
For almost 50 years, the International Potato Center’s (CIP) research and development work in potato and sweetpotato agri-food systems has contributed to greater food and nutrition security, and economic growth, while conserving today’s biodiversity for the future. This video brings together some of the most achievements and impacts for millions of small-scale farmers and resource-poor consumers worldwide.
The next Potato Business Summit will be hosted during the Potato Expo on Wednesday, January 4, 2023 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora, Colorado. Proven to be one of the popular events during the annual Expo, it is co-sponsored and presented by the United Potato Growers of America (UPGA), the Potato Marketing Association of North America (PMA), and the United Potato Growers of Canada (UPGC). Those interested to attend are encouraged to register online soon.
When peeling vegetables, many processing lines waste huge amounts of food – and potential revenue. With modern peeling machines, however, this can be prevented, while also reducing energy costs and water consumption. Eamonn Cullen, Marketing Manager Peeling at TOMRA Food, explains how. Food losses can be as high as 30% during mechanical peeling and 20% with low-tech steam peelers – and much of this lost revenue is preventable, Cullen says.
How do you get a country to change its national diet? That’s what China has been trying by introducing potato as a staple as part of an effort to improve food security. In this episode of The Conversation Weekly, the presenters of the podcast talk to three experts about why countries need to shift what their citizens eat, and what the optimum diet for our planet might be. A prime example is China, where the government introduced a policy to promote the potato as the country’s fourth staple alongside rice, wheat and maize.
Since 2016, the current generation of Dewulf’s 4-row Kwatro Xtreme has been known for, among other things, its constriction-free sieving path and having the largest bunker in its market segment. The harvester has, until now, been produced with a straight hedgehog unit, immediately followed by a single Flexyclean cleaning unit. This is changing today, as market demand for alternative cleaning options has proved to be high.
The World Potato Congress Inc. is pleased to present its sixth webinar this year on December 13, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard time (USA/Canada). International Transport and the Global Potato Value Chain will feature Easy Fresh presenters Gavin Sherwin, Rafael Llerena, and Ekaterina Fefelova. Easyfresh Group specializes in transportation of fresh and frozen food.
Nourish Food Marketing, in partnership with Kahntact have released their 7th annual Trend Report. The 2023 Report provides insight into nine key trends that will shape and transform the food and agricultural world in 2023 and beyond, from ‘un-ignorable’ issues like climate change to the historic highs of food inflation, ‘female food’, and the future of eco-conscious agriculture.
This article was written by John Mesko, Executive Director, Potato Sustainability Alliance (PSA). “The topic of sustainability and all of its relatives – regenerative, climate-smart, and resource positive – are the hottest focus in agriculture right now,” Mesko wrote. “These initiatives are growing in popularity and influence because of the legitimate promise that farming practices can change the world. [But]…climate-smart practices are not being adopted as fast as climate experts tell us they need to be.”
Industry professionals involved in the potato processing sector are invited to meet with the Pulsemaster team at this year’s Interpom event to discuss the company’s latest pulsed electric field (PEF) solutions, and its commitment to keep pace with emerging industry trends. “Our latest Pulsemaster PEF-systems are a must-see,” says Managing Director, Mark de Boevere.
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