AgWired » Potato

Keep Potatoes in Schools!

Cindy — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:39:48 +0000

According to the National Potato Council, “The time has come to stand up for potatoes in schools!”

French fries and mashed potatoes have long been staples of the school lunch program, but that could change if a USDA proposal incorporating the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is implemented. According to USDA, the revisions will “add more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat milk to school meals.” But, NPC says the changes include the reduction of certain vegetables, including potatoes, in schools. “The proposed rule on Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs would limit the weekly servings of potatoes, corn, peas and lima beans to a single cup in school lunches and would eliminate all these vegetables in school breakfasts.”

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee identified potassium and fiber as nutrients of concern for children. However, the USDA is recommending limiting the availability of a vegetable that not only provides these essential nutrients in a calorie-efficient package, but that’s also a vegetable children actually want to eat.

The comment period on the proposal ends April 13, so NPC is urging people to stand up for potatoes and make their voices heard by submitting comments to support potatoes in school lunches. Find out more at PotatoesInSchools.com.

National Potato Council Awards Scholarship

Chuck — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:45:13 +0000

The National Potato Council has awarded their 2010-11 NPC Academic Scholarship to Yu Chen.

Chen is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is conducting research towards controlling Potato Late Blight – a disease that affects potato production worldwide – while simultaneously reducing pesticide applications. NPC believes that her work will ultimately be a boon for the potato industry. Chen stood out in a field of qualified applicants, all of whom are helping to push the industry towards a strong future.

Every year, NPC awards a scholarship to one graduate-level student conducting research for the benefit of the potato industry to aid them in their studies. The winner is selected based on a number of criteria, including academic achievement and leadership ability. Thanks to all of the supporters who help fund the scholarship program, and to all of the applicants working for the betterment of the industry.

Ladhoff To Lead USPB Retail Marketing

Chuck — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:50:28 +0000

The U.S. Potato Board will have Don Ladhoff leading their retail efforts for their Domestic Marketing Program.

He will provide key input to strategy and guide the tactical execution of the program, with the goal of increasing demand for potatoes in the retail environment.

“I’m pleased Don has joined our team,” said Kathleen Triou, USPB’s Vice President, Domestic Marketing. “He brings considerable experience and enthusiasm to the position, and he’ll be ready to contribute from day one.”

Ladhoff was most recently the President of BrandForce, a full-service marketing agency he founded in 2008 that assisted clients including Butterball, Chiquita and T-Mobile. Prior to BrandForce, he was the Vice President of Client Solutions at Seismicom from 2006-2008, working with brands such as Nestle, Fresh Express and Challenge Dairy. From 2002 to 2006, Ladhoff was a Vice President of Account Services with MARS Advertising, developing shopper marketing programs for clients including Clorox, ConAgra Foods, Dr Pepper/Snapple and Procter & Gamble.

Potato Expo 2010 Big Success

Chuck — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:39:07 +0000

I probably would have overdosed on a healthy product if I’d attended Potato Expo 2010. It’s hard to say no to chips/dip or a nicely baked potato with the extras. It would be fun to blog. Maybe someday. Anyway, it sounds like the potato business is doing okay.

Nearly 1,200 people attended POTATO EXPO 2010, along with a trade show that was completely sold out. The second annual POTATO EXPO kicked off Monday, January 4, 2010 with an “Opening Luau Reception” on the tradeshow floor at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. The record setting attendance included representatives from all across North America and from all sectors of the potato industry. Attendees from New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Mexico, Korea, Japan and Ireland were also present.

One of the general session speakers was J.R. Simplot Company President and CEO Bill Whitacre who spoke on “The Future of the Potato.” He said:

“Over the next decade, our industry will continue to change, and that will mean the potato industry will have additional opportunities,” Whitacre said. “Many of these will come from technological advancements. We need to embrace these technologies and recognize the capabilities and possibilities these will bring to the future of food production.”

Looking forward to it.

Digital Potatoes

Chuck — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:03:35 +0000

The U.S. Potato Board got some recognition for balancing traditional and digital media recently. Their target?

She’s called “Power Mom.” “Momfluential.” “Chief Purchasing Officer.” Even “Mogul Mom.” She is the United States Potato Board (USPB) Domestic Marketing program’s primary target: women, 25-54 with kids younger than 18 living at home. She makes at least 80 percent of the decisions regarding her household’s spending, and she doesn’t make those decisions passively.

The USPB presented a case study at the “M2Moms Annual Conference”, a professional development conference for marketers.

Meredith Myers, USPB Public Relations Manager, was part of an interactive panel in October, along with the Vice President of Marketing for iRobot and Director of Consumer Public Relations for Hallmark Cards. These professionals came together and discussed, to a packed room, how their unique approaches directly reach “momfluentials” and are generating measurable results.

Some of their digital outreach includes:

Potato Goodness Website
Mom’s Dinner Helper
Facebook Fan Page
YouTube Channel

Social Potatoes

Chuck — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:47:26 +0000

Baking a potato is not a difficult thing to do unless you’ve never done it before and have no idea how. There’s help for consumers now from the U.S. Potato Board.

Potato classics go convenient and digital. The United States Potato Board (USPB) recently launched a campaign to help remove the time-barrier between busy moms and potatoes. It revolves around a new collection of Quick & Healthy Potato Recipes, and the news is reaching consumers reading traditional food pages and socially surfing the web.

The six most popular online searches for potato recipes—baked, mashed, fries, soups, salads and casseroles—were updated to be “Quick & Healthy” and enhanced with several flavor variations, for a total of 24 new potato recipes to please every palate. Additionally, six, one-minute educational videos were created. This package was introduced on September 18 through a multi- media on-line news release, so in addition to an article touting the quick-and-healthy benefits of meals with potatoes, there are links to recipe pages on www.potatogoodness.com, photos to download, and links to the videos on the Potato Goodness YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/PotatoGoodness.

Here’s how to bake a potato:

Mom’s Dinner Helper Blog
Facebook

Hot Potato Ideas

Chuck — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:26:27 +0000

The U.S. Potato Board held a “Hot Potato Ideas” contest and culinary students were rewarded for their innovative recipes like this Cheesy Southwestern Potato Crisps one shown in the photo. During my pheasant hunt our cook made us some of the best potato pancakes I’ve ever eaten. Perhaps we should get her to enter next time.

Creative ideas and innovation bring excitement to menus and inspire the restaurant patrons who enjoy them. This was the motivation behind the United States Potato Board’s (USPB’s) “Hot Potato Ideas” contest, which rewarded culinary students for their innovative potato recipes in one of three categories: Ethnic, Healthy and New Classics.

Twenty-two students from the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY, campus entered the contest, so deciding upon the top three entries was a challenge. Nonetheless, here is a snapshot of the winning potato recipes:

Cheesy Southwestern Potato Crisps, a Latin-inspired recipe with fresh jalapeño-cilantro pesto and cheese enveloped in crisp shredded potatoes, captured the Ethnic Category and overall Grand Prize in the Potato Innovation Recipe Contest. This fresh and flavorful recipe was created by William “Trey” Smith. The USPB awarded Smith a trip to the Culinary Institute of America’s Worlds of Flavors® conference in St. Helena, CA, (Napa Valley) taking place November 12-14, 2009.

Indian Spiced Potato and Spinach “Bajé” earned Adam Kaswiner the $1,000 prize for the Healthy Category. Inspired by his Peace Corps travel in Bangladesh, his recipe demonstrated the versatility of the nutrient rich potato with bold “crave-able” flavors.

Marissa Hines won the New Classics category with her recipe, Not Your Grandmother’s Pierogi. The student’s sophisticated updated take on this classic comfort food with goat cheese and prosciutto in a leek and morel sauce also earned a $1,000 prize.

For copies of these recipes and for more culinary inspiration, visit potatogoodness.com/foodservice. The USPB thanks all chefs who participated and encourages them to keep exploring innovative uses of potatoes and efforts to introduce these into the foodservice arena.