Overview

Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are the fourth most important food crop in the world and the leading vegetable crop in the United States. Together, Idaho and Washington produce about half of the annual supply, which totaled 41.3 billion pounds in 2008 and was valued at $3.9 billion.

Around 40 percent of U.S. potatoes are consumed as frozen products, especially fries, while about 25 percent are eaten fresh. The rest are processed into potato products and food ingredients, fed to farm animals, processed into starch for industry and re-used as seed tubers for growing the next season’s crop.  June 2009 ... Potatoes

Marketing

• Canned Potatoes, Vegetables and Melons Outlook, Economic Research Service (ERS), USDA, 2009.
• Crisp firm awaiting vodka licence, BBC, 2008 - A British potato chip company will use some of its potatoes for distilling vodka.
• Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System, ERS, USDA.
  
• Idaho Center for Potato Research and Education, University of Idaho.
• Idaho Potato Commission.
• International Potato Center.
• National Potato Council.
• New Light on a Hidden Treasure, Food and Ag Organization, United Nations, 2008 - This illustrated book emphasizes the vital role that potatoes play in the global food system, providing the most recent FAO statistics on world potato production and consumption as well as profiles of 52 major potato-producing countries.
• North American Potato Market News.
• The Potato Association Of America.
• Potato Chips, ERS, USDA, 2008 - Explains how potatoes consumed as potato chips are largely produced and consumed domestically, with relatively small volumes traded internationally.
  
• Potatoes, ERS, USDA.
• Potatoes, Vegetable and Melons Outlook, ERS, USDA - This article presents the latest market outlook for the U.S. potato market, including fall harvest production, trade outlook, a review of 2008 production and price and shipment information.
• Potatoes, Dole Reference Center Encyclopedia.
• Potatoes Annual Summary, National Ag Statistical Service, USDA.
  
• United Potato Growers of America.
• United States Potato Board.
• U.S. Trade Internet System, Foreign Ag Service, USDA.
• Vegetables and Melons Yearbook, ERS, USDA, 2009.
  

 Production

• Commercial Potato Production - Organic and Pesticide Free Production, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, Canada, 2003.
• Florida Potato Crop/Pest Management Profile, 2008.
  
• Fresh Market Potatoes, Sample Cost of Production, University of California Cooperative Extension, 2008.
• Potato, Postharvest Technology Research and Information Center, University of California, Davis.
  
• Potato Education Guide website, University of Nebraska.
• Potato Information Exchange, Oregon State University.
  
• Potato Storage Management - Storage Structures and Ventilation, Western Potato Council, Canada, 2005.
• Potatoes, Vegetable Research and Information Center, University of California Cooperative Extension.
  
• United States Standards for Grades of Potatoes, Ag Marketing Service, USDA, 2008.

Businesses/Case Studies

• Okray Farms, Plover, Wisconsin - These farms have been raising potatoes for 100 years. This article profiles how their business has changed to meet consumer's changing needs and desires.
• Potatoes, The New American Farmer, Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education, USDA - Describes two potato-growing operations in the United States.
• Royal Treatment, Rural Cooperatives magazine, USDA Rural Development, 2009 - Rhode Island farmers join forces to market RI Royal brand potatoes.

Links checked June 2009.