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AUSVEG Chairman John Brent today said that vegetable growers in Queensland had been hit hard by the recent floods and long term Federal Government assistance was now needed for many to survive the winter growing season.

The damage bill from flooding on Tasmanian farms is expected to run into millions of dollars.

AUSVEG CEO Richard Mulcahy today said that despite recent media reports to the contrary, there is no need for Australia to import more vegetables due the flood crisis in Queensland.

Potato yields in Southland, New Zealand, could be down next year if the crops do not get some much-needed rain, even after the past few days of wet weather.

he Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has mandated a fast-food labelling law, becoming the first state to do so.

AUSVEG CEO Richard Mulcahy has welcomed the proposal for a briefing of the Senate Rural Affairs and Transport Committee on Zebra Chip disease, following a recent request by New Zealand to import fresh potatoes for processing into Australia.

A national potato shortage in Australia is providing a boom for growers in far north Queensland.

n Australia the humble spud is in short supply, with the Tableland now the only place in Australia currently in season to harvest a potato crop.

Tasmanian potato growers supplying Simplot have reluctantly agreed to a AU$25 cut per tonne of potatoes grown this season.

A new potato variety will be appearing on retail shelves in Australia, Asia and the Middle East in coming months from the South Australian Potato Company

McCain Tasmanian potato growers supplying McCain have agreed on a price cut of $26.50 per tonne for this season.

Full scale local potato production in Fiji will become a reality in three years' time, according to permanent secretary for Agriculture Colonel Mason Smith.

Potato growers in the Ballarat region (South Australia) are continuing negotiations over pricing for the next harvest with the food processor McCain.

After a battle lasting almost 25 years, Western Australia's $45 million potato industry has been declared free of the devastating potato cyst nematode (PCN).

Another price cut in a contract settled yesterday between South East potato growers and major potato-processing company McCain Foods Australia has threatened to wipe-out the industry if the downturn continues, according to potato producers in the region.

Flour Mills of Fiji has processed into potato chips the first batch of potatoes that were harvested from farms in Nadarivatu.

It has been bred by Plant & Food Research and it has a smooth deep purple skin with purple and white flesh.

In New South Wales, Australia, Matt Simmons can barely keep up with demand for the organic potatoes he and wife Sue grow on their 48-hectare farm on the Hawkesbury River.