News on Food Trends from Australia

Potato growers in Western Australia have invested heavily in a potato marketing program aimed at stopping the decline in consumption per capita of fresh potatoes.

In South Australia, McCain has sold its former potato processing factory at Penola to a meat processor, to the dismay of some local growers.

The weather might be warming up [well, in Australia that is, not here in Canada...PP] but that isn’t stopping Aussie consumers tucking in to a hearty serve of mashed potato, according to the latest wave of the industry-funded Potato Tracker project.

The South Australian Government is partnering with Potatoes South Australia to gain export access and expand the state’s seed and fresh potato industry within the growing international markets of Thailand and Malaysia.

The first wave of results from the Australian industry-funded Potato Tracker project have been released, shedding encouraging new light on purchase triggers and consumption habits relating to fresh potatoes.

AUSVEG CEO Mr Richard Mulcahy has welcomed this afternoon’s announcement by the Federal Agriculture Minister, The Hon. Barnaby Joyce MP, of the composition of the Board that will head up the new research and development body for horticulture.

Two of South Australia's biggest potato growers are fighting the State Government in court over changes to their water allocations.

Simplot Australia implements SaaS Consumer Goods Sales Force solution StayinFront EdgeCG® for all its Sales Channels

Australian potato growers are set to gain fresh insights into how consumers view their products as part of a new market research project that has started this month.

Potatoes South Australia chief executive Robbie Davis says potatoes are widely considered fattening, high in bad carbohydrates, inconvenient and boring. She calls for a national image campaign.

Administrators of the New South Wales potato chip business Potato Magic Australia recommend winding the company up and placing it into liquidation.

Crop management and protection practices that help prevent soil-borne diseases in potato crops will be the key focus of a special potato research and development (R&D) workshop to be held in Berrigan, NSW, Australia

Predicta Pt, the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) soil testing service for the potato industry, has received the John Deere Productivity Partner Award at the 2014 AUSVEG Awards for Excellence in June.

Potato farmers are looking to take control of the Penola Safries plant to use it for storage.

Potato Magic Australia, a potato chip business owned by one of the country's biggest potato farmers, Paul Rennie, has been placed into administration.

Australia’s industry association of vegetable and potato growers, AUSVEG, has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Minister for Agriculture that the Federal Government will review the current process by which biosecurity threats are assessed.

Potato growers attending today’s potato research and development (R&D) workshop in the Lockyer Valley in south east Queensland will hear about exotic and endemic biosecurity risks facing their businesses, and the practical steps they can take to protect themselves.

Australia’s vegetable and potato industries have backed calls from northern Australian growers for the expansion of the Seasonal Worker Program, to address major labour shortages in horticulture.