Niche potato varieties profitable for Australian farmer

Niche varieties and customer service are the keys to making a profit.

That's according to Mornington Peninsula vegetable grower Richard Hawkes.

Richard recently left his part-time job as technical manager for Apple and Pear Australia Ltd to devote himself to the family farm, which he operates with his sister, Andrea, and their father, Barry.

After a nine-year hiatus from growing carrots - the last crop in 1998 was abandoned after a run of bad seasons - the Hawkes family started growing potatoes on their 56ha property at Boneo.

"We slowly built a small market of offbeat types of potatoes: king edward, kipfler, toolangi delight.

"Anything that's hard to grow, we try and have a go at - those that other people don't consider commercial varieties."