Current Events & News All About Sweet Potatoes

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All About Sweet Potatoes Current Events & World-wide News:

Week of August 20, 2006

Peru - There are about 6,500 varieties of sweet potatoes in the world (includes wild samples, farming varieties, and breeding lines). They are brown-skinned, orange-skinned, purple-skinned, red-skinned, white-skinned; and, in combinations with flesh of the same colors.

Source: International Potato Center (CIP)

"Sweet Potato" in different cultures and languages:

BURMESE: Myonk ni

CHINESE: Fan shu (Faan syu), Bai shu, Gan shu (kan chou)

DANISH: Sød kartoffel, Batat

DUTCH: Zoete aardappel, Bataat

ENGLISH: Sweet potato, Sweetpotato (USA), Yam (USA), Kumara (NZ)

FRENCH: Patate douce

GERMAN: Süßkartoffel, Suesskartoffel, Batate

MALAY: Ubi jalar (Indonesia)

ITALIAN: Patata dolce

JAPANESE: Satsuma imo, Ryuukyuu imo, Kara imo, Kan sho

KOREAN: Ko gu ma

LAOTIAN: Man kè:w

NORWEGIAN: Søtpoteter

PORTUGUESE: Batata doce, Batata da ilha (Brazil)

SPANISH: Batata, Boniato, Camote (Latin America), Cumala huasca, Cumal huasca, Cumara, Curiti, Jarissi jabo, Kamote (Philippines)

SUNDANESE: Huwi boled

THAI: Man thet

VIETNAMESE: Khoai lang, Khoai mon

At this Web Site: - In case you haven't visited recently, there are several new pages including a "portal" to the site's Home Page in different languages such as Spanish, French and Italian. All About Sweet Potatoes - Home Page in Different Languages.


Week of August 13, 2006

Africa - Engineered Sweet Potatoes: Scientists are working on an engineered sweet potato that will resist a virus responsible for consuming more than three-quarters of the harvest in central Africa.

Source: Agricultural Marketing Resource Center

USA - Sweet Potato All-Natural Dog Food: Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance - an all natural product; no artificial colors or dyes. Natural Balance® Sweet Potato & Fish Dry Dog Food is a special formula for dogs with allergies to beef, poultry, or lamb. Sweet potatoes are the first ingredient, and the second ingredient is salmon. Also available is the Fish & Sweet Potato Canned Formula. These two formulas provide a complete, balanced allergen free diet for all life stages -- puppy through adulthood.

Source: http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/products/SPFish.html

Week of August 6, 2006

The Republic of the Philippines - Nutrition Month: When the Philippines commemorated the month of July as Nutrition month, the commonly eaten sweet potato was featured on many menus.

Source: Philippines Information Agency

India - Fasting during Shravan: Some snack eateries have modified everyday food to suit strict fasting standards. In addition to Sabudana Khichdi and Wadas (the usual upvas items on menus), selections like Farali Dosa (made from vari grain flour) and Farali Undhiyu (has all tuber vegetables like sweet potatoes) have been added. All of the special fast items are made using ingredients that are allowed during fasts.

Source: Mumbai Newsline cities.expressindia.com

Canada - Tobacco Replacement Crop: Tobacco farmers are considering sweet potatoes as one of the crops to replace their tobacco crop which many say will be their last this year. They see a future in industrial grade sweet potatoes for ethanol, which is being mixed with gasoline.

Source: Norfolk (County) News, Canada

Week of July 30, 2006

Japan - Toyota Owns Sweet Potato Business: Toyota, the world's most successful car company, controls dozens of businesses that have hardly anything to do with automaking. The businesses are diverse in products/services and include Toyota Bio Indonesia, a grower and processor of sweet potatoes. Established in 2001, this subsidiary is 90% owned by Toyota. Some of the sweet potatoes are used to make various biodegradable plastics used in Toyota cars.

Source: HispanicBusiness.com

Week of July 23, 2006

Funding may help fuel ethanol proposal Tillsonburg News - Ontario, Canada ... To join the alliance, potential producers needed to pay a $1,000 deposit to grow 25 acres of sweet potatoes. The maximum set was $4,000, or 100 acres. ...

Canadian company mulls US$140M ethanol plant here Stabroek News - Georgetown,Guyana An overall investment of some US$140M which would see the setting up of a plant to make ethanol from sweet potatoes and by-products including 20 megawatts of ...

Mega Marathon Runner Breaks Own World Record in New York After 41 ... Yahoo! News (press release) - USA ... time, ran the equivalent of three marathons every day, subsisting on a diet primarily of non-wheat noodles and toast, natural rice, sweet potatoes, rice and ...

Week of July 16, 2006

Times Online - UK ... Fennel, sweet potatoes, squashes and root vegetables all support the spleen. ...

New Bern Sun Journal - New Bern, NC ... about $250,000 in grants for crop transition - one of the nudges pushed farmers to produce and market more sweet potatoes.