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- The first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the world potato trade
- Covers everything from the history of the potato through to plant types and uses, production, consumption and demand to pricing
- Analyses the trade in fresh potatoes, frozen potatoes, seed potatoes and the fast-food, snack food and dehydrated potato industries
- Essential information for growers, processors, retailers, marketers, agricultural economists, fresh produce brokers and traders as well as national and international planning agencies
The potato industry is one of the world's most significant food producers and accounts for a huge proportion of its fresh produce trade. Potatoes are at once the staple of many communities throughout the developed and developing world, a source of livelihood for many others, and an international commodity of enormous significance to the world economy, as well as the backbone of the ever-growing fast-food and snack food industries.
The international potato industry is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of this complex business. Written by one of the world's leading authorities on the potato industry and its economics, it examines every link in the market chain which leads from the field to the consumer's plate. The first part of the book shows the impact that the potato has had on people and their culture since its origins in the Inca society of South America, and shows how potato consumption, in its many forms, continues to influence economic and social development in today's fast-food society.
The second part provides a detailed description of the patterns of supply, demand and pricing in the global potato market, while the third part looks at the trade in potatoes around the world, devoting separate chapters to fresh, frozen, seed potato and other potato products. Finally, the book deals with the future outlook for the global potato industry and with the technological and market challenges it faces in the coming years.
The international potato industry provides the most comprehensive picture yet available of the dynamics and structure of the global potato market at the beginning of the 21st century, and will be essential reading for all those new to or already involved in the potato and ancillary industries worldwide – whether as growers, processors, shippers, retailers, marketers, advisers or fast-food providers – as well as for agricultural economists, fresh produce brokers and traders and national and international economic planning agencies.
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