News on The Potato Supply Chain from Australia

Potato growers in the Ballarat region (South Australia) are continuing negotiations over pricing for the next harvest with the food processor McCain.

After a battle lasting almost 25 years, Western Australia's $45 million potato industry has been declared free of the devastating potato cyst nematode (PCN).

Another price cut in a contract settled yesterday between South East potato growers and major potato-processing company McCain Foods Australia has threatened to wipe-out the industry if the downturn continues, according to potato producers in the region.

In New South Wales, Australia, Matt Simmons can barely keep up with demand for the organic potatoes he and wife Sue grow on their 48-hectare farm on the Hawkesbury River.

AUSVEG CEO Richard Mulcahy said today that diseased potatoes had the potential to threaten the viability of the entire Australian potato industry if the Australian Federal Government allows potatoes to be imported for processing from New Zealand.

Potato growers who supply Simplot Australia’s Ulverstone potato processing plant have put their case for a four per cent price increase for the 2010/11 growing season, the equivalent of another $13 a tonne. Simplot has yet to respond to the growers’ p...

Australian scientists at SARDI are making major strides in diagnosing potato diseases before the potato crop is planted.Watch ABC video on this topicAustralia’s $500 million-plus potato industry will benefit from new DNA tests that can quickly and accu...

Potato growers across Australia have been urged to protect the local industry from a major pest which has established itself in New Zealand. New Zealand potato producers have been coming to terms with the disease Zebra chip. The disease is seen as...

McCain Foods has told growers in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania it requires 10 per cent less potatoes for the 2010-11 season and wants to cut the price by AU$45 per tonne. A meeting of potato growers at Ballarat last week angrily rejected Mc...

Potato growers in the Moorabool region (Australia, near McCain Foods Ballarat factory) say they could be forced out of business after McCain Foods planned a AU$45 a tonne price cut next season.   With McCain’s tonnage also set to be reduced by 10 per c...

A newly discovered ability for people to taste fat could hold the key to reducing obesity, Deakin University health researchers believe.   Deakin researchers Dr Russell Keast and PhD student Jessica Stewart, working with colleagues at the University o...

AUSVEG Chairman, John Brent, today expressed dismay at the lack of Australian representation at the Fruit Logistica Trade Fair just concluded in Berlin and called on Australia’s political leaders to place more emphasis on the agricultural industry and ...

In a report published today, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has shown that intake of trans fatty acids (TFAs) from manufactured sources has declined in the Australian and New Zealand population by 25-40% since 2007. FSANZ Chief Scientist...

Ballarat region potato farmers have slashed the amount of seed they will sow this week because of a drop in demand. McCain Foods (Australia) has reduced the quota it will take from growers after next year's harvest and will pay them about $35 less pe...

A new strain of bacterial potato wilt has reduced interstate markets for some Far North Queensland growers. The disease, which has been found in small patches at Tolga and on parts of the Atherton Tablelands, will prevent growers within a 20-kilometr...

Tasmania produces an extensive range of fresh and processed vegetables. As the highest value vegetable produced in the state, the potato is considered the backbone of the Tasmanian vegetable industry. With a farmgate value of $82.5 million, the potato...

About 230 growers will be paid AUS$310-330 per tonne. That is $6 less per tonne of Russet Burbank potatoes and $9 less per tonne of other varieties. Grower Nathan Richardson is glad to finalise a deal and says Simplot has agreed to buy any potatoes ...

Thousands of tonnes of Tasmanian potatoes may have to be dumped, because of falling demand for potato chips (french fries).Potatoes are being harvested now, but vegetable processor Simplot has told farmers it's oversupplied, and can't buy their surplus...