Colorado’s potato crop is taking a devastating hit this year, all because of a bug that literally blew in on the winds from Mexico and south Texas. On the Strohauer farm, east of LaSalle in Weld County, the potato harvest is in full swing. And if you’ve ever heard the expression "small potatoes," it turns out there's some meaning behind it. "We’ve got a problem with the psyllid. It's an insect that came in on the south winds, that came up out of Texas," said Harry Strohauer, owner and operator of Strohauer Farms. "The bugs don't allow the potatoes to size up."

The average consumer today could go the rest of his life without consuming another fresh potato and be perfectly fine, Bruce Peterson told the audience at the 82nd annual Idaho Grower Shipper Association Convention. Peterson, president of Bentonville, Ark.-based Peterson Insights, said he wasn’t trying to make Idaho potato growers mad. He was merely pointing out that potato marketers must bring a more sophisticated marketing strategy to motivate consumers to choose potatoes over Doritos, Oreo cookies and thousands of other choices.

 Potato prices may drop as the West Bengal government is all set to offload 1 million tonne (mt) in the market by next week to rapidly cut excess stocks. Output in India’s second largest potato growing state doubled this year to touch almost 10 mt. But branded snack companies such as ITC and Pepsi will see no dip in raw material costs as the prices of the specialised varieties they buy remain steady.

La firme agrochimique allemande BASF a déclaré en début de semaine vouloir introduire un nouveau tubercule OGM en Europe. En mars dernier, cette même firme avait obtenu le feu vert de Bruxelles pour la commercialisation d’Amflora, une pomme de terre OGM destinée entre autre à la fabrication du papier. Cette autorisation avait fait beaucoup de bruit à l’époque et ému les associations de lutte contre les OGM : Amflora était le premier OGM autorisé en Europe depuis 1998. La pomme de terre que souhaite commercialiser BASF s’appelle cette fois Amadea.

Aardappeloogst 2010 lijkt een van de laagste opbrengsten in tien jaar tijd te gaan opleveren. Dat maakte DCA-directeur Kees Maas bekend tijdens de Aardappeldemodag in Westmaas. De oogst in de vijf belangrijkste aardappeltelende landen lijkt qua opbrengst uit te gaan komen op hoeveelheden die ook in 2003 ( 25,2 miljoen ton) en in 2006 (25,2 miljoen ton) gehaald werden, waardoor er een grote kans bestaat op hogere prijzen. Maas verwacht van januari tot juni een prijs die ligt tussen de 16 en 24 euro per 100 kg.

An application for the EU approval of a second genetically modified starch potato, Amadea, has been made to Brussels by developer BASF, as harvesting begins of its first GM variety, Amflora. Both potatoes are modified to produce pure amylopectin starch, rather than a mixture of amylopectin and amylase. In paper and adhesive industries, where potato starch is used, only amylopectin is needed and separating the two starch components is uneconomic.

The Ministry of Agriculture is eying to increase the production of tuber crops, especially quality potato seeds and their preservation and distribution in a bid to ensure food security and thus alleviate poverty, reports UNB. In this connection, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) Tuesday approved a Tk 4.21 billion project, titled 'Tuber Crops Development Project'.

South Korea has reopened to potato imports from the US state of Idaho following an assessment of the state’s nematode eradication programme by Korean scientists. Korea imposed a ban on Idaho potatoes in 2006 after the discovery of the pale cyst nematode in two of the state’s counties, reported the Idaho Statesman. Imports from those two counties, Bingham and Bonneville, are still banned, but the ban has been lifted for the rest of the state as of 29 July.