News on The Potato Supply Chain from Australia

Potato growers attending today’s potato research and development (R&D) workshop in the Lockyer Valley in south east Queensland will hear about exotic and endemic biosecurity risks facing their businesses, and the practical steps they can take to protect themselves.

Australia’s vegetable and potato industries have backed calls from northern Australian growers for the expansion of the Seasonal Worker Program, to address major labour shortages in horticulture.

The Australian vegetable and potato industries are calling for consumers to be given certainty about the food they are eating once-and-for-all, through refined Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) laws, according to AUSVEG.

Claims New Zealand potatoes do not pose a “substantive risk” to the Australian industry have been slammed as irresponsible and reckless by AUSVEG.

Australian Potato shoppers are spitting chips over the rising cost of washed potatoes amid reduced ­supplies.

AUSVEG, will host a series of potato research and development (R&D) workshops in South Australia this month, as part of activities arranged for the Potato Industry Extension Program.

McCain Foods agriculture director John Jackson in Australia has admitted the company’s relationship with the region’s potato growers has been damaged in recent years.

Recent research has linked the rise of fussy fruit and vegetable eaters in Western society to the population’s increased development of allergic asthma over the past 50 years.

Potatoes South Australia Incorporated, the peak industry body for the potato industry value chain, has been awarded funding of AU$409,800 (excl GST) through the Federal Department of Agriculture’s National Landcare Innovation Grants for a two year project which will help develop a more reliable soil Phosphorus test.

Simplot processing potato farmers in Tasmania have accepted a $10 per tonne price cut for crops deliverable in 2014.

Owners of an old carpet factory in Devonport (Tasmania) have held informal talks with the Devonport City Council about a conversion to a potato processing factory.

South Australian Potato producers have called for fair freight arrangements following the closure of McCain Foods' Penola plant.

Australian minister for the Environment, the Hon. Greg Hunt MP, has launched the new EnviroVeg smartphone app for farmers, to help them manage their land sustainably.

Today’s reports that Simplot’s two vegetable processing plants at Bathurst and Devonport will remain open for at least another three years has been welcomed by peak industry body, AUSVEG.

The South Australian New Season Baby Potatoes Auction will be held at an Industry Dinner on Friday 1 November 2013. This annual auction is organised by Potatoes South Australia Inc.

Farmer Terry Buckley says he is sad to see the local Penola plant close, but he hopes the Ballarat plant might save the Australian potato processing industry, which is being outpriced by cheaper imports.

The Potato Marketing Corporation of Western Australia has started a campaign to increase the consumption of fresh potatoes.

Victorian potato growers will face fewer quarantine restrictions when selling their potatoes interstate.