POTATOES.NEWSGlobal potato industry intelligence11,640 stories
Field and glasshouse studies show that trap crops and brassica biofumigation can reduce potato cyst nematodes, but results range from 30% to almost 100% and depend on soil and crop establishment.
Eleven on-farm trials near the Great Lakes found that potato response to phosphorus falls as soil phosphorus rises. An earlier Minnesota study showed that phosphorus adds tubers, but many of them are too small to sell.
FAO data show a gap of more than ten times between the highest and lowest national potato yields. Research led by the International Potato Center names poor seed as the main cause in Africa.
FAOSTAT data for 2024 put world potato output at 390.4 million tonnes. Ten countries grow two thirds of it, and Asia's harvest is almost nine times bigger than in 1961.
Canada's potato crop has more than tripled since 1961. The centre of production has moved west: in 2025 Alberta and Manitoba grew almost half of the crop, while Prince Edward Island fell to third.
Wisconsin, the third-largest US potato state, is pushing smaller packs, specialty varieties and its Healthy Grown label to earn more from fresh potato sales.
Monsoon rain and Hurricane Polo have slowed field work and planting permits in northern Sinaloa, an important potato area. Dams are fuller than a year ago.
President Abelardo De la Espriella says PepsiCo will invest US$1 billion in Colombia over five years. The company is the country's largest industrial potato buyer.
A provincial seminar in Miramar heard that potato growers in south-east Buenos Aires spend US$7,000–9,000 per hectare, while income is still below costs.
Peru's July potato production fell 19.6% as Arequipa's crop collapsed, but Lima's main wholesale market received almost the same volume as a year earlier.
Norway harvested 386,200 tonnes of potatoes in 2025, the largest crop since at least 2021. More than half came from Innlandet. In 1961 the country grew over 1.2 million tonnes.
Spain produced 1.94 million tonnes of potatoes in 2025, 44% of them in Castilla y León. In January to September it imported 889,446 tonnes, mostly from France.
