Confidence in the industry (Edition 7)

WE ARE HALFWAY THROUGH 2014! WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

The end of the financial year sees us at edition seven, which includes a look at Glenn Carr’s new twin row self propelled Grimme potato harvester. We profile one of our founders Kevin Langmaid, a legend of Cherry Hill who has also provided us an opinion on youth within our industry, and some observations regarding the benefits of a hands on approach.

Brenden also has his two cents worth and there’s a little chuckle thrown in which we think is ‘grate’.

Enjoy reading and from all of us at Cherry Hill Coolstores, we hope the tax man is kind to you!

The team at Cherry Hill Coolstores

WELCOME AND SEASON REPORT

At Cherry Hill we are right into the swing of cutting seed and will continue this for the next five months or so. With increased tonnes to cut this year, we’ve installed a new double deck cutter, so we can meet time frames for cutting.

I intend on using both cutters for the majority of this time. Scheduling for cutting will be much the same as previous years – so we would appreciate it if you could let us now of any changes in your program i.e. tons allocated, precut or spring cut, varieties, plant dates etc. All this can  change how we handle your seed.

On another subject, in the past weeks some of the trial varieties have come  into Cherry Hill (from both processing company’s) and some of them appear  very promising in a number of ways! Varieties that set large numbers can help  to keep seed costs under control and most of them are a shape that the  processor will like … lets hope they cook!

If you would like to discuss your seed call me or the team on (03) 6426 1590  or email me at brenden@cherryhillcoolstores.net.au.

Brenden Keep, General Manager Cherry Hill Coolstores.

CHERRY HILL COOLSTORES SEED GUARANTEE

Our Seed Management Services. Cherry Hill Coolstores will guarantee our services on Seed Growers seed. If you buy someone else’s certified seed, which is presented to Cherry Hill in good condition, and it breaks down, we will replace our cutting and services at no charge.

This guarantee specifically refers to seed piece breakdown (i.e. rot), and refers to seed which is delivered directly to Cherry Hill Coolstores from the seed paddock for chemical application, coolstoring and cutting. In order for this guarantee to be valid, the Buyer must make claims within 24-hours of the seed leaving Cherry Hill Coolstores and before planting.

In order for this guarantee to be valid, the buyer must make claims with 24 hours of the seed leaving Cherry Hill and before planting.

View more about our guarantee here.

INTRODUCING: KEVIN LANGMAID

Our founder, our inspiration, our confidant.

Born in June 1938, Kevin was the youngest member of a family of nine who all grew up on  a farm at Kindred Road, Forth.

Kevin’s early childhood memories are of no electricity and no running water, sleeping in a room with two elder brothers and if a light was needed a candle was lit!

The 180 acre farm was called Ben Acres and Kevin’s introduction to life on the land involved cropping and stock – cows, sheep and a lot of ‘chooks and horses’.

Losing his father at a young age saw Kevin take on a lot of responsibility early in life, leaving school to help his brothers work on the farm and look after the rest of the family. And whilst busy managing all this Kevin recalls during his teenage years there was still time for football, square dancing, fishing, badminton and ball room dancing. (We hear he’s still a great ‘mover and shaker’ today!)

In 1957, he met and fell in love with a beautiful young lady called Patricia Sellars. Life seemed to speed up after this, marrying Patricia two years later and then starting his own farm just a couple of years after that at the mere age of 23.

Their farm was run as a mixed cropping and live stock farm and over time saw them move from using horses to cultivate the property to tractors and other machinery. Potato growing was always a big part of their cropping program and Kevin’s passion for this industry began here.

To supplement their income and help develop the farm Kevin took on various roles throughout his life. This included operating harvest machinery for McCain Foods P/L, being a foreman with Peter Gillam at Vecon P/L, and building and operating an ice rink in Devonport! (This is now the ten pin bowling centre in William Street.) Amongst all that Pat and Kevin managed to bring three wonderful children into the world!

After a few years at the ice rink, Kevin was approached to join a vegetable exporting company, Perfecta Produce, as their Agricultural Manager. A position Kevin knew well, he flourished organising the new businesses growers and planting and harvesting crops. This role provided Kevin with an abundance of experience and was a great learning period for him. He travelled to England, Holland,the USA and New Zealand in this role.

Eight or nine years went by when another opportunity arose that Kevin could not pass up. Purchasing Elliston Coolstores in 1990, Kevin and his now grown up son Andrew changed the name to Cherry Hill Coolstores, after the name of the property it resides on. They installed the first potato sorting and grading machine to service Tasmanian potato growers and so Cherry Hill was born!

Starting with nine coolstores and around 1800 tonnes the business now has 14 coolstores and handles over 9000 tonnes. The company now ships within Tasmania, interstate and overseas.

A keen footballer, fisherman and traveller, Kevin is now retired (retiring in 2007). He still has a valuable role at Cherry Hill though and contributes to its ongoing success when he’s not watching Geelong play or out fishing – providing wonderful advice to the team.

Kevin provides frequent articles for Cherry Hill, ‘An Opinion by Kevin Langmaid’ as ongoing support to the business. Read on to discover this edition’s article “Some Observations Through Our Industry”.

TESTIMONIAL … “GO THE EXTRA MILE“

“We’ve been growing potatoes for the past 25 years in south-east Tasmania selling fresh-market washed and brushed potatoes throughout Tasmania.

We’ve been using Cherry Hill Coolstores for cutting and storing our seed potato for the past ten years and have never had a problem with their product. We’ve used Cherry Hill for advice regarding the cool storage of our own potatoes and have always found them very friendly and helpful. We may even say that we have found Andrew and Brenden go the extra mile to accommodate our business and that they are always looking at new innovative ways to improve.

We’d highly recommend Cherry Hill to any grower. You can see that because this is their core business what a difference it makes with the storage and cutting of seed. This is why our company made the business decision to use them as it is so important to our company to have our seed treated and stored under the right conditions. Great peace of mind.”

Gerard Daly – Director/Grower, GP & SL Daly Pty Ltd

View more of our testimonials here.

CONFIDENCE IN THE INDUSTRY

Cherry Hill enjoys working with positive people!

Cherry Hill congratulates Glenn Carr for having the confidence in his business, and the potato industry generally, to purchase a twin row self propelled Grimme potato harvester.

There are very few of these harvesters in Australia, in fact Glenn Carr’s is the newest one in Australia and is only the second one here in Tasmania.

Pam and myself, had the opportunity to have a good look at the harvester working at Table Cape recently. It is a very impressive, high tech harvester. Everything is computer controlled and camera monitored. Potato and dirt separation is without doubt the best we have seen, given the wet conditions the harvester was working in. The maneuverability of the big machine is incredible.

Glenn said that this machine will out perform tag along machines in all weather conditions. And Glenn should know – he also has two other Grimme tag along harvesters!

Pictured: The magnificent machine itself. The three wheel steering enables it to turn 180 degrees in its own length. What a beauty. If you’d like to see more images of the harvester visit our photo gallery.

AN OPINION … KEVIN LANGMAID

Some observations through our industry.

A university education with a degree at the end of it is a wonderful asset for a student to have, however it does not guarantee the student will be successful in their chosen field. This may apply particularly to the agriculture industry as there are lots of varying factors which may influence outcomes from decisions which are not academic. Like machinery applications, the best approach to take with it and what a particular crop evolves into under a varying range of regions and climatic conditions. Not to mention pests and diseases, which may apply to certain regions and not to others.

There are many other influences which they need to learn with a hands on approach and from people already in the industry. Situations and adversities require people to have a great deal of common sense, patience, persistence, vision, anticipation and good communication skills all help lead to success. However there is no substitute for experience which is gained over time.

Most young agronomists encountered, are very good and give advice to growers which is very sound and some times crop saving, however sometimes there is a view by the graduate that their Ag Science degree has given them the capability of knowing how to solve all agriculture problems and they sometimes give advice to growers which is less than the best under some situations.

Mind you this also occurs within our factories and exporters and processors, people should remember the industry does not expect them to have all the answers, it is okay to say they don’t know when they are unsure, some research and investigation would help then, remember listening not talking helps learning.

We need more young people to engage in a career in Agriculture as they will bring new enthusiasm and fresh ideas to help carry the industry into the future. We most likely will see new markets emerging from the Asian region over the next decades and we will need skilled people in the industry, especially in overseas marketing. They would also need a good understanding of the vegetable production at farm level.

Overseas marketing is always a challenge there are many hurdles to negotiate in establishing a market in a foreign country and also making sure that there is a profit for our growers. These people, some who are all ready in the industry, and the new ones entering will be very valuable, and necessary to strengthen our industry.

CHERRY HILL CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY

We value your thoughts and input:

Keep an eye out for our upcoming Customer Survey. At Cherry Hill we value our potato customers’ opinions and regularly seek input from them in order  to improve our business.

Shortly you will receive a survey that will give you the opportunity to provide feedback on our performance and for us to gain an insight into areas we can improve our customer service.

We’d really appreciate your time to complete this survey. It’s online and only short, plus it’s anonymous if that helps! Thanks.

HAVE YOU VISITED OUR GALLERY YET

We’ve added an image gallery to our website, it’s full of interesting photos from Cherry Hill Coolstores! You can visit the gallery here and view all our recent images. The latest additions include Pam and Andrew’s visit to Table Cape to investigate Glenn Carr’s new Grimme potato harvester (mentioned above) and some happy snaps of the guys around the coolstores. The girls on the trim table and Buck trying to avoid the camera!

Here’s a taster of what you’ll find in the gallery:

Pictured from left to right: 1. The Grimme potato harvester at Glenn Carr’s property, 2. The bunker on the harvester can hold eight tonne of potatoes, 3. The view from Steve McLaren’s office and 4. Beth working on the final inspection.

Visit our online gallery here…