News On French Fries and Potato Specialties from Australia

After months of failed negotiations culminating in a week of protests and a blockade of the McCain Foods factory in Ballarat, potato growers and the food manufacturer have come to an agreement.

Ballarat region potato growers and McCain Foods have reached an agreement a short time ago, offering growers about $305 a tonne for their potatoes. The Ballarat McCain Growers Group met with the company this afternoon for further negotiations.

Determined potato growers in Ballarat will take their protest to the next level after five hours of talks with McCain Foods senior management failed to reach a solution.

Potato growers are using 50 tractors to protest outside the McCain factory at Ballarat, in central Victoria, over contract negotiations.

McCain Foods Australia is being urged to follow the lead of Simplot Australia by increasing potato prices for Ballarat growers.

Two hundred potato growers who supply Simplot Australia's Ulverstone factory have negotiated a $20 a tonne price increase.

Australian French Fries (or should we say hot chips?) could be in short supply this year after floods devastated potato-growing regions in four states.

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

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

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

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

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.

Potato growers who supply Simplot Australia’s Ulverstone potato processing plant have put their case for a four per cent price increase for the 2010/11 growing season, the equivalent of another $13 a tonne. Simplot has yet to respond to the growers’ p...

McCain Foods has told growers in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania it requires 10 per cent less potatoes for the 2010-11 season and wants to cut the price by AU$45 per tonne. A meeting of potato growers at Ballarat last week angrily rejected Mc...

Striking workers at the McCain Foods Ballarat factory in Australia were ordered back to work yesterday following a dispute over rostered days off. The strike started when workers walked off the job on Monday night after the company failed to come to ...

Potato growers in the Moorabool region (Australia, near McCain Foods Ballarat factory) say they could be forced out of business after McCain Foods planned a AU$45 a tonne price cut next season.   With McCain’s tonnage also set to be reduced by 10 per c...

Australian potato producers are feeling the pinch, due to an increase in processed potato imports from Europe, American and New Zealand. Since 2004, annual processed potato imports have risen 400 per cent, from $20 million to $109 million. Tim Heisse...

Latest research from Leatherhead’s Global Food Markets database suggests that the key food sectors in Australia are weathering the global recession well. Although there are signs that consumers have begun to economise during the slowdown, many sectors ...