News
Potatoes USA appoints global marketing manager
Potatoes USA has hired Kayla Dome as global marketing manager for its retail sector. Dome comes to Potatoes USA with a background in merchandising and sales. She spent the last several years working in the produce industry for Grimmway Farms where... more
J.R. Simplot secures license for CRISPR gene editing tools
The J.R. Simplot Company has executed a joint intellectual property licensing agreement with Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of DowDuPont and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard for foundational CRISPR-Cas9 and related gene editing t... more
Sentera expands use of Gimbaled Quad Sensor
Sentera’s Quad sensor is now available in an integrated gimbal-stabilized package for DJI Inspire and Matrice drones. Featuring four fully-customizable and individually-filtered focal plane arrays, the Quad sets the standard for data accuracy and e... more
China plans tariffs on $60 billion of imports
China announced, on Aug 3, that it would match the Trump Administration's recent increase in tariffs with an additional $60 billion in retaliation on U.S. goods. It is not immediately known which products will be included on the new list, the Nation... more
Farm Bill conference set
The Senate has chosen its slate of members to negotiate the 2018 Farm Bill conference agreement. The Republicans will be represented by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., John Hoeven, R-N.D., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, ... more
BASF completes acquisition of Bayer businesses, assets
BASF has closed the acquisition of a range of businesses and assets from Bayer. The transaction is a strategic complement to BASF’s crop protection, biotech and digital farming activities and marks its entry into seeds, non-selective herbicides an... more
Volume down but value up of June potato sales
The total volume of potatoes sold at retail in the U.S. was down 3.2 percent in June 2018 compared to June 2017, though the value did increase 1.1 percent with a 4.8 percent increase in price per pound. That’s according to figures compiled by marke... more
NPC: Trade talks ramp up
In addition to USDA announcing a $12 billion program to mitigate the effects of retaliatory tariffs, The National Potato Council (NPC) said several high-level negotiations were held in Washington D.C. recently with trading partners directly involved ... more
Joe Sieczka passes away after long service to potato industry
Joe Sieczka, longtime potato specialist and Extension agent, has died. “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Joe Sieczka on July 29, 2018 at his home in New York,” The Potato Association of America (PAA) wrote in a release... more
European court rules gene editing equals GMO
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that crops created using gene editing techniques will be considered as genetically modified organisms under their regulations. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued a statement saying the... more
