News on Food Trends from Oceania

HarvestEye - a sensor that measures tuber quality during harvest - is now available to potato growers in Australia. Elders was appointed as the exclusive reseller of the system in the country.

If you’ve been into a fish and chip shop in Australia in the last 12 months, you may well have seen a notice tacked to the wall about the impact of the potato shortage. Supermarkets, too, slapped temporary limits on frozen chip purchases.

By adopting integrated pest management (IPM) practices growers are not on their own, Australian entomologist, Dr Paul Horne, told Pukekohe potato growers at a Potatoes New Zealand research update breakfast meeting in late March.

Australian Shoppers Share Excitement over ALDI Freezers Filled with Potato Chips Potato production suffered heavily due to excessive rains and flooding in major potato-growing areas in Australia in 2022.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, a Canadian pension fund, acquires the majority stake in Mitolo Family Farms, the largest potato grower and packer in Australia.

Australian supermarket chain Woolworths has confirmed a major potato shortage has caused the price of potato-based snacks to soar – resulting in 'insane prices' for a single bag of chips.

Timaru’s McCain vegetable processing factory in New Zealand is now producing french fries using a boiler system powered by woodchips instead of coal, seeking to minimise waste by 20 per cent.

Snack brand Pringles has had a change to the packaging of its 53g varieties, with the plastic cap removed and replaced with a foil laminate seal, made by Sonoco.

Simplot Australia has announced an AUD 65 million (about USD 44 million) upgrade to its Bathurst manufacturing facility and acquisiton of farming land in the Central West region of New South Wales valued at AUD 40 million.

A NZD 5.6 million (about USD 3.5 million) project to eliminate CO2 emissions and reduce demand for heating fuel at McCain’s Timaru factory will soon use woodchips to make their frozen french fries.

Developed by Freshlogic, the annual Horticulture Statistics Handbook includes the latest available data on 75 different categories across fruit, vegetable, nut, nursery, and cut flowers in Australia.

Colin and Donna Craig-Brown found the questionably large potato growing in their yard in November 2021. They even named the potato Dug and submitted their surprisingly large find to Guinness World Records (via Food & Wine).

A New Zealand couple named Donna and Colin Craig-Brownla found a 25-pound potato by surprise buried in their backyard and ended up naming it Doug.

Nicole Stevens traveled to Australia from the United Kingdom after completing her science and tourism management studies. Her career pathway has now diverted to horticulture.

McCain Foods has installed proprietary world-leading technology in the form of a Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) generator, as part of the company’s latest upgrade to its Smithton plant in Tasmania.

The multi-generational farmer's passion for the simple spud seems to have paid off, helping secure growers like himself an additional $9 a tonne deal with major food manufacturer Simplot over the coming financial year.

Australian vegetable and potato industry body AUSVEG has announced the appointment of Michael Coote as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective 1 July 2021.

The post-Covid economy is driving strong growth for Australian vegetable producers. Fueled by the increase in consumer demand for fresh vegetables, Australian growers have chosen to invest significantly in improving their post-harvest operations.