Executive Officer’s Report

contacts

Horticulture House 103 Outram Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005 p: (08) 9481 0834 e: admin@wapotatoes.com.au w: todatoes.com.au 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

Committee 2019–20

Vaughan Carter Busselton Chairperson Colin Ayres Albany Deputy Chairperson Glen Ryan Pemberton Secretary Gary Bendotti Pemberton Treasurer Patrick Fox Scott River Bronwyn Fox Dandaragan Christian deHaan Manjimup m: 0417 092 505

m: 0428 451 014

m: 0428 827 126

m: 0427 569 903

m: 0499 887 202 m: 0427 447 412 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

WA Potatoes Executive Officer’s Report

SIMON MOLTONI EXECUTIVE OFFICER, POTATO GROWERS ASSOCIATION

Winter 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. COVID-19 has been the single biggest factor affecting all our lives. Some industry sectors have been more affected than others.

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

Fee-for-service charge 2019–20

Processing potatoes — local and export $6.00/t Seed potatoes — local and export $150/ha Ware (fresh) potatoes — local $8.00/t Ware (fresh) potatoes — export $6.00/t Ware (fresh) potatoes — marketing $2.50/t

Projects approved 2019–20

Part funding for PGA $310,500 Delivery of Registered Seed Potato $96,000 Certification Schemes & Virus Testing Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid (PSTVd) surveillance of the Seed Scheme Part Funding for Export Development Project $100,000