News on The Potato Supply Chain from Australia

Australia’s industry association of vegetable and potato growers, AUSVEG, has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Minister for Agriculture that the Federal Government will review the current process by which biosecurity threats are assessed.

The West Australian virologist Brenda Coutts has been named the 2014 AUSVEG Researcher of the Year.

The Government of the Australian State Victoria is working to facilitate seed potato exports to Indonesia before the end of the year

Seed Potato growers on South Australia's Kangaroo Island have welcomed a boost in yields.

Prices for potato crops grown for Simplot's north-west Tasmanian factory are set to rise by AU$20 a tonne.

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.