WA POTATOES
WA Potatoes
contacts Horticulture House 103 Outram Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005 p: (08) 9481 0834 e: admin@wapotatoes.com.au w: todatoes.com.au
Executive Officer’s Report
Simon Moltoni, Chief Executive Officer m: 0447 141 752 e: simon@wapotatoes.com.au Morena Perdec, Finance & Admin Manager e: morena@wapotatoes.com.au Georgia Thomas, Project Manager e: georgia@wapotatoes.com.au
SIMON MOLTONI EXECUTIVE OFFICER, POTATO GROWERS ASSOCIATION
Committee 2019–20 Vaughan Carter Chairperson
Busselton
Albany Colin Ayres Deputy Chairperson
m: 0417 092 505 m: 0428 451 014
Glen Ryan Secretary
Pemberton
m: 0428 827 126
Gary Bendotti Treasurer
Pemberton
m: 0427 569 903
Patrick Fox
Scott River
m: 0499 887 202
Bronwyn Fox
Dandaragan
m: 0427 447 412
Christian deHaan
Manjimup
m: 0429 436 361
Elected Members Representing the Ware Fresh sector: Vaughan Carter, Christian de Haan, Glen Ryan and Bronwyn Fox Representing the Seed sector: Colin Aryes Representing the Export sector: Patrick Fox Representing the Processing sector: Gary Bendotti
W
inter is Coming! In fact, winter is already here along with an early storm season that has affected many crops right across the state. After a summer of tight supply, the storm damage could well leave a winter market in short supply. We are already seeing potatoes imported from the east hitting the market and unfortunately this could continue for some time. It would be reasonable to expect grower returns to reflect these market conditions. Generally, the supply situation has seen an improvement in returns for summer production after several years of poor prices and plough — ins of surplus stock. Growers need to carefully consider production commitments going forward as periods of undersupply can easily swing back to oversupply very quickly, along with reduced dollar returns.
Fee-for-service charge 2019–20
WA Grower WINTER 2020
The Fresh market saw an initial surge in sales that has settled down recently and remains positive. Exports of seed and chip stock seem to be progressing as planned. Unfortunately, the French fry market has suffered significantly. With the closure of pubs, cafés and restaurants demand has fallen drastically and it will take some time before sales get back to normal. The biggest risk, however, is the potential for imported frozen product from the northern hemisphere to be “dumped” in Australia. To address this concern, Ausveg has, at the request of the state industry bodies, presented the federal Minister for Agriculture with a comprehensive outline of the situation and requested a temporary ban on imported frozen potato product. This request was co signed by Simplot and McCain and sent to many other relevant
Projects approved 2019–20 Part funding for PGA
Processing potatoes — local and export
$6.00/t
Seed potatoes — local and export Ware (fresh) potatoes — export
$150/ha Delivery of Registered Seed Potato Certification Schemes & Virus Testing $8.00/t Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid (PSTVd) $6.00/t surveillance of the Seed Scheme
Ware (fresh) potatoes — marketing
$2.50/t
Ware (fresh) potatoes — local
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COVID-19 has been the single biggest factor affecting all our lives. Some industry sectors have been more affected than others.
$310,500 $96,000
Part Funding for Export Development Project $100,000
