Potato News from Oceania

A 20km quarantine zone in Thorpdale's potato region has been declared following the discovery of potato cyst nematode. The discovery, made during routine crop surveys required to meet standards for seed potato certification, could have a devastating ef...

Jones Lang LaSalle's retail specialist team is hunting for properties for a 20-store expansion planned by fast-food chain Wendy's throughout New Zealand.The property consultants say the timing could not be better with the way the market has moved latel...

Australia can now officially toast International Year of the Potato.A New South Wales winery best known for its fruit creations has just released the country's only commercial potato vodka.The potatoes used to make the vodka are sebago and harvested on...

Potato chips made to taste like Bourbon Whiskey have dismayed experts and parents, who say they send a dangerous message to young consumers.The new Jim Beam-branded potato chip packets advertise alcohol to anyone who buys them - including children - Dr...

Ballarat district potato growers have rejected a price offer from McCain Foods to buy this season's crop.While McCain buys most of the region's potatoes, escalating fertiliser and fuel costs mean growers want to see an increase per tonne in price to re...

Workers at the Department of Primary Industry’s (DPI) potato research facility at Toolangi have been told the facility is to close. The jobs of seven of the 11 staff members are to be relocated to Knoxfield while four have found themselves without job...

In an article entitled "Grocery report's disparities only small fry",  Paul Sheehan notes: "The figure you need to know is the price for a kilo of potatoes from the farm gate: 55 cents. That is the most common bulk price sold to wholesal...

Chip shops across the country are being urged to get in quick to be crowned the nations best chippie, with registrations for the ‘That’s Life! Best Chip Shop Competition 2008’ due to close on 31 July. Chairperson of the Chip Group, Glenda Gourley, sa...

The potato processor, Simplot Australia, and farmers have been negotiating prices for four months and have agreed to a 35 per cent price rise for the coming crop. Simplot's managing director, Terry O'Brien, says both sides have ended up in a good pla...

Potato chip maker Mr Chips has received a full takeover offer from Simplot Australia. The offer, conditional on a satisfactory report by Grant Samuel &Associates, was for $2.643 per Mr Chips share, and an entitlement to retain a cash dividend of ...

A snack food promotion accused of encouraging children to eat the equivalent of more than a kilogram of fat has been stung by the Advertising Standards Authority. The authority upheld a complaint by the Ministry of Health that Bluebird Foods' "R...

Fiji has stopped importing potatoes from New Zealand because of a bacteria, says Quarantine director Hiagi Foraete. He said the Fiji Quarantine Department was consulting with their New Zealand bio security counterparts about the bacteria which was fou...

An attempt to make Ausveg into a grower-controlled organisation at a special general meeting in Sydney today has been torpedoed by a group of State executive officers. A draft new constitution was put to the Ausveg board - principally representatives o...

McCain Foods has confirmed a cleaning cloth was found in a bag of frozen chips in New Zealand earlier this month. A supermarket checkout operator made the discovery after the package felt unusual. The contamination was reported to McCain Foods and has...

Simplot spud growers say they could be forced to opt out of growing the crop after price negotiations on new contracts hit a stalemate this week. The farmers are seeking a record 33 per cent price rise due to skyrocketing fuel and fertiliser costs tha...

Braddon MHA Bryan Green says a new state-of-the-art storage facility on the North-West Coast builds on the region’s reputation as Australia’s premier potato-growing area.Mr Green today officially opened the $2 million development undertaken by long tim...

The takeover of potato products maker Mr Chips is inching towards certainty after more institutional shareholders agreed to accept Simplot Australia's impending takeover offer. Agreements with Balle Bros and Jon Davison gives food manufacturer Simplo...

Shares in potato chip maker Mr Chips soared 20 percent today as the company upgraded its end of year profit forecast. Mr Chips said it was expecting to make a net profit of around $5m for the year to March, up 80 percent on the previous year.