Aug 28, 2023 | Agriculture & Food Processing
Baked, boiled, fried, browned or totted, the world loves its potatoes. So much so that a Central Washington hamlet, Othello, can rightly claim its place as the center of the potato world, processing 1.5 billion pounds of spuds every year. That’s 15% of total North...
Dec 2, 2019 | Agriculture & Food Processing
Move over Honey Crisp and Red Delicious. There’s a new apple in town. Known as the Cosmic Crisp, the Washington-bred apple has been in development for more than two decades and is just reaching supermarket shelves throughout the state this week. According to Bruce...
Jun 3, 2019 | Agriculture & Food Processing
If you’re driving through apple country in Washington this fall, don’t be surprised if you end up doing a double take.No, it’s not your imagination and those aren’t invaders from another planet trying to steal Washington’s prized apples.They’re robots, designed to...
May 2, 2019 | Agriculture & Food Processing
The world’s largest manufacturer of potato specialties is about to double its footprint in Othello, Washington. McCain Foods USA Inc. has announced plans to invest $300 million in the facility, which will add 170,000 square feet of production space and create about...
Apr 30, 2019 | Agriculture & Food Processing
Thirty-three years ago, a straightforward safety test at a nuclear plant outside the city of Pripyat in Ukraine went awry. Today, the very word Chernobyl conjures up images of bustling cities that became ghost towns overnight and large plumes of radioactive material...
Feb 26, 2019 | Agriculture & Food Processing
In the world of business, Ellenos Yogurt is about as close one can get to being an actual overnight. The night before it opened for business, the company didn’t even have a name. Finally, the founders settled on a made-up word, combining Hellinic (which means Greek)...
Nov 19, 2018 | Agriculture & Food Processing
The Red Mountain American Viticultural Area is one of the premier growing regions in Washington State. Grapes often fetch three times the price of other grapes on the market. So imagine the eyebrows that raised when Aquilini Red Mountain Vineyards announced that they...
Jul 12, 2018 | Agriculture & Food Processing, Technology
DroneSeed, a Seattle startup, really can see the forest for the trees. After getting official clearance from the FAA and a new round of funding, the company is setting its sights on reshaping the way forests are replanted. Using a network of drones controlled by the...
Feb 27, 2018 | Agriculture & Food Processing
In Washington, wine is as much a family affair as it is a business. There are more than 900 wineries in the state, making it #2 in the U.S. in wine production and a leader in the premium wine category. Wine aficionados can thank families like the Sauers for...
Feb 21, 2018 | Agriculture & Food Processing
Historically, bringing a new variety or species of fruit or vegetable to market has been a decades-long process. But Seattle start-up Phytelligence is about to change all that. The company has come up with a new method for cutting the initial breeding, growing and...