Latest news with #potato
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wells Fargo Reduces PT on Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (LW) Stock
Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) is one of the Best Mid Cap FMCG Stocks to Buy Now. Wells Fargo reduced the target price on the company's stock to $65 from $70, while keeping an 'Overweight' rating, as reported by The Fly. The firm is aggregating models throughout Beverage/Food/HPC and updating the price targets. Notably, the firm highlighted that its target price to earnings is the discount to historical trading ranges, considering the limited near-term volume visibility. Potatoes being sorted on a conveyor belt in a modern packing facility. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) has engaged AlixPartners, which is a leading global business advisory firm, to help it evaluate opportunities for near- and long-term value creation and cost savings. In the in-home consumption space, Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) recently rolled out new private-label products throughout the grocery and club channels. Overall, the company remains focused on identifying new and growing customers to fuel long-term sustainable growth in its business. In North America, Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) launched new battered and seasoned products, and fridge-friendly fries and tots, improving its addressable market. In the North America retail channel, the company has expanded its licensed brand portfolio to include Onion Rings and Cheesy Potato Bites. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) is engaged in the production, distribution, and marketing of frozen potato products. While we acknowledge the potential of LW as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 13 Cheap AI Stocks to Buy According to Analysts and 11 Unstoppable Growth Stocks to Invest in Now Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
BBC News
22-07-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Potato blight warning app to use AI to help farmers
Researchers are developing a new app which will use artificial intelligence to warn farmers of a fungal disease which can devastate potato scientists say the app will allow farmers to detect late blight using their phone before it becomes visible to the human disease is responsible for 20% of potato crop losses and £3.5bn in economic losses worldwide, the research team at Aberystwyth University diagnosis would boost productivity and reduce costs for farmers, as well as decrease their reliance on environmentally harmful pesticides, they added. The DeepDetect project will use machine learning to deliver accurate, location-specific disease diagnoses to farmers on their smartphones."By integrating farmer feedback from the outset, we will ensure that this technology is grounded in real-world needs and challenges," said Edore Akpokodje, computer science lecturer at Aberystwyth technology also has the potential for wider application across other crops, he project aims to reduce the environmental and financial burden of preventive spraying, which the researchers said currently cost Welsh farmers up to £5.27m are a vital crop globally and in Wales over 17,000 hectares are dedicated to potato team plans to create an AI-powered prototype using image datasets of healthy and diseased potato will then refine the model and eventually the team hopes to create a national early warning system for potato blight, with potential to expand the technology to other crops and regions in the future."Potatoes are the fourth most important staple crop globally, and optimal production is essential for a growing global population," Aiswarya Girija from the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University said."Potato blight is therefore not just a farming issue - it's a food security issue."
The Sun
19-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Sun
Mary Berry's ‘no-fuss' chicken & potato traybake ‘takes minutes to put together' & there's only one pan to wash-up
IF you fancy serving up something hearty, wholesome and seriously easy then Mary Berry has you covered. The national treasure has shared her go-to chicken and potato traybake recipe and it's everything you'd expect from the queen of fuss-free family cooking. 2 2 With just one pan, minimal prep, and bags of flavour, it's the perfect midweek winner that looks like you've made an effort (when really, you haven't). Mary says it's a great way to feed the family as the chicken and vegetables are all cooked in one very large tray in the oven. It sits in the oven for under an hour and only minutes to put everything together so it's perfect for a week night dinner. And one tray means one dish to wash so no faff, and barely any mess. The recipe pairs crispy golden potatoes with juicy chicken thighs and drumsticks, roasted in a rich mix of smoky paprika, garlic, red onion, and streaky bacon. It's finished with a citrusy hit of preserved lemons, sweet courgette ribbons, and salty olives, though Mary insists it's totally customisable. She said: 'I love stuffed olives, but plain green or black ones are fine if you prefer." 'And the preserved lemons give a lovely tang, but if you can't find them just slice up a fresh one.' Everything roasts together in a single layer for that irresistible golden finish, and the result is the kind of no-fuss, no-stress meal that still tastes like a Sunday dinner. Mary's only golden rule is not to cram everything into one overcrowded tin. Age-defying nutrionist shares perfect recipe to get fit and improve gut health If you're feeding a crowd, split the mix between two trays so the heat can circulate properly. That way, every bite will be cooked to perfection, it will be crisp, tender and bursting with flavour. And if you're wondering what to do with leftover preserved lemons (if there are any), Mary says they're perfect in tagines, pork dishes and anything that needs a zingy kick. They'll keep in the fridge for a month or freeze for up to three, so you can prep these ahead of a busy week So next time you're staring blankly into the fridge or can't face the thought of another round of washing up, give Mary's traybake a go. It's proof you don't need a dozen pans, pricey ingredients or a chef's degree to whip up something seriously delicious. Here's how to make it It only requires six easy steps. Get your oven hot – about 220°C or 200°C fan. In a large roasting tin, toss the potatoes with olive oil. Add in the onion, garlic, bacon and chicken pieces. Scatter over the lemon slices, season generously and sprinkle with paprika. Pop it in the oven for around 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, nestle in the courgette slices, and scatter the olives on top. Return to the oven for another 20 minutes, until golden and bubbling.
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Spud-tacular: How India became a french fry superpower
French fries turned around the fortunes of Jitesh comes from a family of farmers in Gujarat in the northwest of India. Traditionally they grew cotton, but the returns were poor. Droughts in 2001 and 2002 made the situation worse and the Patels knew things had to change. "We realised that we had to start growing something that does not require lot of water," Mr Patel they experimented with potatoes. Initially they tried table potatoes; the kind available in local markets and cooked at home, but the returns weren't much better than by the arrival of french fry makers in their state, in 2007 they started growing the varieties of potato used by the food industry. It turned out to be a winning strategy."Since then, no looking back," says Mr Patel. Mr Patel is part of India's rise to potato superpower status. It is already the world's second biggest spud it's the export market, particularly of french fries, that's really flying. Gujarat has become India's capital of french fry production, home to huge factories churning out chips, including facilities belonging to Canadian giant McCain Foods and India's biggest maker of French Fries, HyFun Gujarat fries are sent all over over the world. But the most important markets at the moment are in Asia, including the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, according to Devendra K, who has been studying the potato market for many years. In February of this year, monthly exports of Indian frozen fries broke the 20,000 tonnes barrier for the first time. In the year to February, India's fry exports totalled 181,773 tonnes, a 45% increase compared with the previous success is partly down to price."Indian frozen fries are noted for being competitively priced in the international market," says Devendra. He says that in 2024, the average price of Indian fries was even cheaper than those from China. For the french fry makers, it's boom time."India has emerged as a significant player and exporter due to its abundant agricultural produce, cost-effective manufacturing, and growing focus on quality standards," says Haresh Karamchandani, CEO of HyFun has seven plants processing potatoes in Gujarat with another two coming online by 2026."Urbanisation, increasing disposable incomes and changing lifestyles have promoted the consumption of frozen foods, not only in the household but also in food service establishments," says Mr Karamchandani. Meeting that demand has required decades of innovation from Patel studied agriculture at university and has been applying science to farming ever since. Along with friends and family they are continuously trying to improve their potato yield."We are a well educated bunch of farmers, so we keep trying new methods," he of their first innovations, back in 2003, was to switch to a drip system of irrigation, rather than flooding fields with keep the soil productive the fields are rested over the summer, and fertilised with cow focus now is finding the perfect potato plant."We are in the process of experimenting with seeds and soon we will have a new variety," he says. Jain Irrigation Systems is a large agricultural technology company. As well as selling irrigation equipment, it has teams of technicians developing seeds for agriculture, including potato use a set of techniques known as tissue culture. It's a way of cloning plants, with desirable traits and eliminating disease. It involves growing small pieces of plant tissue in a controlled laboratory environment to create virus-free plantlets. These plantlets can then be used to produce more seed potatoes through methods like taking cuttings."Potato seeds destined for future seed production undergo meticulous breeding practices under the supervision of breeders," says Vijay Singh, vice president of marketing at the issue they are tackling at the moment concerns a variety of potatoes used to make chips. Farmers found that by November the potato crop starts to go brown because of its sugar content. "Companies like us who are into tissue culture are trying to come up with a new variety to overcome the challenges that the industry is facing," says Mr Singh. While Indian farmers are working on improving their yields, investment is needed elsewhere in the frozen food particular, firms need to be able to store and transport goods at sub-zero cold storage facilities have been built, but more are needed."Only about 10–15% of India's cold storage facilities are suitable for storing frozen foods," says Vijay Kumar Nayak, co-founder of Indo Agri Foods, an exporter of Indian food. "These facilities are unevenly distributed, heavily concentrated in a few states, leaving rural and remote regions severely is a problem as well. "There is a notable shortage of specialised refrigerated trucks and containers, making temperature-controlled transportation extremely difficult and increasing the risk of spoilage," he says. A reliable electricity supply is also essential."Frequent power outages in many parts of the country increase the chances of spoilage and make running a reliable frozen food supply chain a daunting task," says Mr Nayak."Indian companies face intense competition in export markets from countries like China, Thailand and Brazil. These nations benefit from more advanced logistics, infrastructure, and production systems," he points out. Back at his Gujarat farm Mr Patel is happy that the chip makers moved in. "Gujarat has become a food processing hub. Most of the farmers, including me, have become contract farmers which gives us security and good money for our yield," he says.
CNN
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
The greasy airbag of gratification that became Britain's national dish
Fried breakfast. Sunday lunch. Fish and chip supper. Any member of this holy triumvirate might qualify for the title of Britain's National Dish. Except that Britain's real signature plate isn't served on a plate at all, but from a metalized plastic bag. It doesn't sizzle or boil, but rustles and crunches — a greasy airbag of impetuous gratification, snacky saline satisfaction, and ultimately, empty calories. This is the story of the crisp — the wafer-thin sliced, deep-fried slivers of seasoned potato that continue to hook millions, and stole the hearts of a nation in more ways than one. Tune into BBC Radio 6 Music on a Sunday morning, and between tunes from CMAT and Radiohead, you may well hear the sound of someone nibbling on crisps. The presenters Marc Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie have not been caught off guard snacking between tracks however; 'Crisps on the Radio' is a long-running segment on their morning show, in which listeners mail in packets of crisps they've discovered from around the world, and Radcliffe and Maconie attempt to work out what flavor they're supposed to be. This whimsical use of airtime underscores Brits' unparalleled affinity with the crisp, a snack that is infinitely more than just a snack. Britons consume some 10 billion bags of crisps each year. On weekday lunchtimes, walls of crisps are raided from British supermarkets, as workers grab a bag as part of a 'meal deal.' Picnics in the park are considered piteous without the addition of a family-sized bag of crisps. Online commentators endlessly shuffle crisps into tiers of deliciousness, while stand-up comedians count the ways in which people finish off the crumbly remnants of their crisp packet. In 2022, Nigella Lawson, one of the country's most adored TV cooks, teamed up with Walkers — the nation's best-selling crisps brand — to create a recipe for the perfect crisp sandwich (ingredients: bread, butter, crisps). The next year, Kicks Bar and Grill in Hull, in the northeast of England inveigled customers through its doors with an all-you-can-eat crisp buffet. In her 2024 book 'Crunch: An Ode to Crisps,' Natalie Whittle writes: 'It is hard to escape the strange connective force of crisps in British life.' You might say the Brits have an unhealthy obsession with the crisp. But how did it get here in the first place? The answer is: it came from America. Sort of. It's an origin story worthy of Hollywood. The setting: Moon's Lake House restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York, 1853. The main players: chef George Crum, and diner/railway tycoon/fussy eater Cornelius Vanderbilt. The tale goes that Vanderbilt demanded Crum cut his potatoes thinner… and thinner… and thinner. Crum eventually blew his top, shaved the potatoes passive-aggressively thin with a mandolin, and sent them back out to the customer in spite. Except that Vanderbilt loved these crackly scraps of salted spud, and thus 'Saratoga Chips' were born. It's likely this anecdote was bent into more pleasing shape over time — for one thing, Crum's sister Catherine Adkins Wicks always maintained she'd been the one manning the frying pan, not Crum — but it's true that someone at Moon's Lake House sliced those potatoes wafer thin, and it's also true that, before the century was out, industrious business folk like William Tappenden had pounced on the snack's potential as a store-sold item, not just a restaurant specialty. Any Brits in need of a lie down after hearing this distinctly un-British backstory, however, can breathe easy. Technically, the crisp had already been invented over in England; here, in 1817, the first known crisp recipe was published in William Kitchiner's 'The Cook's Oracle' as 'Potatoes fried in Slices or Shavings': 'Peel large potatoes; slice them about a quarter of an inch thick, or cut them in shavings round and round, as you would peel a lemon; dry them well in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping….' Kitchiner, who was born and died in London, is also known for whipping up the first-ever batch of Wow-Wow Sauce. The fact he was also a doctor may raise eyebrows now, given the crisp's dubious health implications. It may be that only a handful of Brits ever tried Kitchiner's crisp recipe anyway — but he does appear to have got there before anyone else, American or otherwise. And while commercially shrewd America had a headstart when it came to marketing the potato chip in the late 19th/early 20th century, Britain took up the baton full-heartedly in 1920, thanks to the entrepreneur Frank Smith, who converted two garages in the north London suburb of Cricklewood into the country's first crisp factory. Smith's real breakthrough though was a delightfully simple one. As pub landlords quickly grew annoyed that their customers were stealing salt shakers in order to season their slivers of fried potato, Smith introduced a twist of blue paper, each containing a pinch of salt, and added to every greaseproof bag. Now the British crisp was really cooking, and by the time the country was through with World War II, the market had grown hungrier than ever. Edinburgh's Golden Wonder and Sunderland's Tudor crisp companies arrived on the scene in 1947. The following year, Henry Walker, a butcher in the central English city of Leicester, pivoted his business to make hand-sliced crisps. That same company now produces over 11 million bags of crisps a day. But there was an elephant in the room. The crisp was relentlessly monotone. You could have any flavor, as long as it was salted/unsalted. Neither the Americans nor the Brits solved this particular issue. That was a job for Dublin-born Joe 'Spud' Murphy, who shunned a life in the priesthood ('To hell with this, we need one sinner in the family') and instead formed the Tayto crisp company, in 1954. Sick to the back teeth of plain crisps, Murphy made his first point of order to add a seasoning powder to his Taytos, namely Cheese and Onion. The people went for it, boosted by early marketing campaigns which advised these crisps were the ideal accompaniment to salads… and fried breakfasts. The Smith's salt sachet suddenly seemed altogether quaint. Golden Wonder copied Tayto with its own Cheese and Onion offering. Then, in 1967, Tudor (by now a subsidiary of Smith's) released the first Salt and Vinegar crisps, a tongue-tingling seasoning that remains a stalwart today. More riotous flavors followed, albeit still geared towards British/Irish palates: Pickled Onion, Lamb & Mint Sauce, Curry, Gammon & Pineapple. A 1981 episode of the BBC consumer TV show 'That's Life!' thrust unmarked bowls of crisps in front of unsuspecting members of the public, inviting them to guess the flavor (perhaps that's where 'Crisps on the Radio' got its idea from). 'It's not snake is it?' ventured one gentleman, chewing timidly on a prawn cocktail crisp. Crisp lovers were now tasting in Technicolor, and in the same year the 'That's Life!' episode aired, flavors really jumped the shark — in fact another animal altogether — thanks to Hedgehog-flavoured crisps, the barmy brainchild of pub landlord Phillip Lewis. Lewis was soon after forced to tweak the name to Hedgehog Flavour Crisps, because they did not in fact contain hedgehog, but he'd made his point: anything in the world of crisps was possible. In the 1980s the crisp became a staple of British life. The punk band Splodgenessabounds released 'Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please', a distorted paean to a common order down the local pub. Come the middle of the decade, Brits were splashing an extraordinary £805m (over a billion dollars) on crisps and snacks alone. Companies upped the ante with TV commercials. Walkers — by now pulling away from the competition — called in the big guns. The veteran English comedian Ronnie Barker asked viewers 'Don't you insist on Walkers crisps?'. What turned out to be the ultimate coup for Walkers, though, was a call-up for the England soccer striker Gary Lineker. Like Walkers, Lineker hailed from Leicester, and — putting a spin on his real-life clean-cut image — the sports star gamely moonlighted as a crisp-thieving bad lad. So began a beautiful friendship. During the 1990s Lineker played the hammy villain opposite A-listers like the Spice Girls, Bugs Bunny and his former England teammate Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne. For a while, the brand's Salt and Vinegar crisps were even renamed 'Salt and Lineker.' Increasingly, kids became the target of these campaigns; not just thanks to an ever-swelling medley of flavors, but the promise of free Mega Fiddler toys and Star Wars Tazos slipped inside packets. Crisps now inhabited the same universe as football, pop music, movies and cartoons. They even became a fashion accessory; Natalie Whittle writes in 'Crunch: An Ode to Crisps' about how she'd shrink old crisp packets in the oven. These could then be used as things like earrings and key fobs. 'My memory is lots of children revelling in crisps just as much as I did,' writes Whittle. But a second kind of crisp had also taken wing, as the snack started to grow up. 'I haven't met anyone yet who has said they don't like crisps. I'm not sure I could ever truly trust someone who said they didn't!' says the drinks writer Neil Ridley. His 2024 book, 'The Crisp Sommelier,' pairs 185 different styles and flavors of crisp with various wines, beers, hard ciders and cocktails (a fine white Burgundy 'sits wonderfully,' Ridley recommends, with the light meatiness of a smoked ham crisp). 'As adults, we're supposed to abandon the flavors of our childhoods as we grow up and explore more sophisticated tastes and flavors,' says Ridley, 'So for me, 'The Crisp Sommelier' really taps into that fondness for nostalgic flavours and aligns it with the obviously more adult themes of alcohol pairing.' Ridley's book also taps into a concept of crisp elevation which was already underway 40-odd years ago. In 1988, Kettle Brand Chips — first established in Salem, Oregon — established an outpost in Norfolk, England, bringing a thicker-cut crisp made from organic potatoes and oil to the British market. The bag was bigger, too, encouraging a sense of the deluxe and communal — something to pour into bowls at social gatherings and have people pick at while sipping their aperitifs. 'I'm in heaven,' gushed a columnist for the Shields Daily Gazette local newspaper in 2001. 'Kettle Chips has launched its latest seasonal edition… Sour Cream, Lemon and Black Pepper is the flavoursome snack to die for. Our friends popped round for Sunday tea and the Kettle Chips proved a huge hit.' Crisps could now be aspirational for adults as well as kids, something to show off to friends and neighbors, like a new dress or television. Other 'posh' brands followed suit. Tyrells — flaunting a rustic farmyard provenance, and potatoes with names like Lady Rosetta and Lady Claire — came onto the scene in 2002. Walkers ran with the herd, launching its Sensations range in 2002. Literally branded as 'Posh crisps from Walkers,' these were initially promoted with the help of Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, in a commercial which saw her famous soccer-playing husband being switched out for, you guessed it, Gary Lineker. In 2025, the quest for the perfect crisp continues. While this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe performance arts event includes a show about exactly that, current crisp trends include Slabs, comically chunky discs of potato that rail against the innate thinness of the crisp, come in flavors including Pan-Fried Egg, and can be sourced at trendy pubs like the Shirker's Rest in New Cross, South London — where they encourage you to dunk it in another British culinary obsession: brown sauce. Meanwhile, harking back to crisps' restaurant origins, Liverpool's critically-acclaimed eatery Manifest has been praised for its 'still warm' salt and vinegar crisps starter — perhaps not a million miles from the ones Cornelius Vanderbilt fell in love with back in 1853. Long derided as a (literally) pale imitation of the British crisp, some European offerings have now caught the attention of Brits too. Torres crisps, made near Barcelona in Spain, come in flavors including Iberian Ham, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and have almost become a form of British tapas for the languorous middle classes. Well-founded concerns around the health implications of a nation hooked on crisps (in 2006 the British Heart Foundation ran an infamous campaign showing a young girl chugging a bottle of cooking oil) mean that many healthier options are now on the table too, including crisps that are baked or roasted, rather than fried. Ingredients like root vegetables, lentils and chickpeas are increasingly used in place of the potato, though most crisp eaters would suggest that's an entirely different taxonomy of snack altogether. No one's thrown in the towel on unearthing the next big flavor, no matter how abnormal that might turn out to be; a glance at Museum of Crisps' preposterous list reveals a litany of Wonka-esque freaks: Candy Cane, Gin & Tonic, Rose Petal, Pumpkin Pie. Walkers alone has 125 flavors on British shelves at any one time, while its boffins toil away in 'crisp test kitchens,' dreaming up more. Walkers fans pitch new flavor ideas to the company every single day. And yet, the truth is, the best crisp flavors were discovered a long time ago. Cheese and Onion remains the most popular flavor of both Walkers and Tayto, despite being the first one ever trialed, almost 70 years ago. 'These humble flavours have really stood the test of time,' says Stephanie Herbert, head of marketing at Walkers. When it comes to upmarket crisps, the classic flavors win out too. 'Lye Cross Cheddar & Onion, Anglesey Sea Salt, and Burrow Hill Cider Vinegar are the top picks,' says Herbert, of the Pipers range, which Walkers owners PepsiCo bought out in 2019. That most pedestrian of flavors, Ready Salted, isn't far behind in the popularity polls, while Smith's Salt 'n' Shake crisps, also now part of the PepsiCo stable, are still enjoyed by millions of Brits, who find the quirk of seasoning their own crisps an enjoyable ritual. Neil Ridley, 'The Crisp Sommelier' author, explains: 'The bottom line is brands can premiumize crisps to their heart's content, but they're still a simple, affordable, fun-in-a-bag food that can operate at the highest echelons of society as well as the lowest. In short, they're truly ours, as a nation. 'The potato crisp intertwines our social and cultural backgrounds, our childhoods and how we approach our working lives too. It's a quick and easy way to travel around the world from flavor to flavor, it's shareable, it evokes feelings of nostalgia and it also satisfies us in so many more ways than simply filling us up.' Stephanie Herbert from Walkers agrees. 'Few nations have embraced the crisp quite like Britain,' she says. 'Crisps are woven into the fabric of everyday British life. 'In their own modest, distinctly British way, they're as iconic as any national dish.' Writer's note: This article doesn't touch on the wider definition of bagged British snacks, e.g. Skips, Scampi Fries, Frazzles, Chipsticks, Monster Munch. Although some readers might disagree, they're not strictly crisps.
