Tough times for Tasmanian potato growers

While some potato farmers have finished harvesting, others are still pulling spuds out of the ground.

Less-than-ideal growing conditions mean many farmers expect yields to be lower than in previous years.

Potato farmer Scott Rockliff said he, like many growers, began planting and harvesting later than anticipated.

“I think yields will be down across the board this year, just with the season we have had,” Mr Rockliff said.

“We had a lot of cold and ordinary weather up to Christmas, so growing conditions weren’t great.

“Then we were planting later on because we had a wet spring.

“And then we had a lot of overcast weather in February, which affected yield.”

Mr Rockliff said they normally harvest around 12,000 tons of potatoes each year.

“There are still some good paddocks, but there are some not so good ones, so yield is likely to be down overall.”

Grower Stuart Applebee said he was only a fifth through this year’s harvest.

“Running the tractors, plus the transport, has gone up quite substantially,” Mr Applebee said.

“It’s just going to have to be passed on to the growers from the cartage contractors.

“They can’t wear the costs, but neither can we.

“The issues with harvesting and transporting have been a big topic of discussion among growers.

“A lot of the factors are out of our control.”

Mr Applebee, who supplies to Simplot, said it was vital that contracts for the coming season were sorted by June.

“That way, growers can decide whether they will grow or not.

“There’s going to have to be some big decisions made by growers, whether it’s viable or not, to stay in an industry that is grappling with rising costs and the returns are not quite there to match.”

TasFarmers President Nathan Cox had previously warned that some farmers could stop producing food and fibre due to cost pressures.

“Given where fuel prices are at the moment, and with fertiliser becoming harder to access, farmers are seriously considering whether to harvest, “Mr Cox said.

“Our cost inputs have squeezed margins so tightly that harvesting may no longer stack up for some farmers, and it’s a decision more and more will be forced to weigh up.”