Who are Tasmanian Seed Potatoes (Edition 26)

Who are Tasmanian SEED POTATOES

Our Christmas newsletter, Edition 26, wishes you and your family a very Merry Christmas. We’d like to share with you our 2-tonne bin ventilation successes, Kevin Langmaid’s retrospective article on industry bodies and how they’ve shaped the potato industry, information about who “Tasmanian SEED POTATOES” are, and more.

Read on for these stories and more.
The team at Cherry Hill Coolstores.

IN THIS ISSUE


Season report for December 2019	Industry bodies & committees have shaped the potato industry	A cut above the rest: Darryl Gossage	Who are Tasmanian SEED POTATOES

Read on for these great articles and much more…

SEASON REPORT

Pictured: Pam, Andrew, Conor, Wayne and Iris.

As we come to the end of the 2019 planting season and the sheds become rather empty, it’s time to reflect on the past 12 months.

We’ve stored even more seed and produce, looking after 16,500 tonnes this year – an increase of 11% over last year’s efforts.

Our 2-tonne bins performance in storage has surpassed all of our expectations, with the new ventilation system proving itself to be a real winner. Seed that was stored in one of our new 2-tonne bins looks even better and fresher than seed stored in our 1-tonne bins, and we are tickled pink with that result for our clients.

Our cutting crew have cut more spuds in the last 12 months, than ever before. The team’s efficiency and comradery is outstanding, and we’re all very proud of their effort and teamwork. The same applies to all of our staff at Cherry Hill Coolstores, as everyone has worked hard this year and they should all be very proud of themselves.

In particular we’d like to make a special mention for two staff members – Iris and Conor. Iris has worked with us for over 12 months and has a beautiful and friendly nature, and is already confident and well proven as our front of house – she keeps us all in line. Secondly, we’d like to mention Conor. Conor strives to communicate more efficiently and more frequently with our clients, and this is tremendous. He manages to get out on the road and visit everyone often, and his leadership and energy is both welcomed and exemplary.

We’d like to acknowledge the hard work that goes on behind the scenes with our App developer Graham Brown (Media Rare); and also Anita Pava (Stream Art Design) who manages all of our integrated communication material. A number of our clients met Anita when she presented our PotatoPal Advantage App recently in Yolla – and we’re now beta testing the Android App version, which will be available soon.

Not too many lowlights this year, but we’d like to acknowledge reports of some customers receiving too many small chippy pieces in seed lines. Late harvested seed was also an issue for a few paddocks, and there was some harvester damage from rocky seed paddocks which is no good.

We are always looking at improving our services for you, and welcome your feedback to help us improve in any areas necessary. We thank you all for your continued confidence in us to do a good job. And we wish a very Merry Christmas to you and your family, and we hope you all make a fortune next year! We have some exciting new projects coming in 2020 that we cannot wait to share with you.

Best wishes from all of us at Cherry Hill Coolstores and Tasmanian Seed Potatoes.

Pictured: Wayne performing tricks off the clock.

A CUT ABOVE THE REST

Darryl Gossage had already cut his teeth by the time he arrived at Cherry Hill Coolstores, and quickly became a crucial part of the cutting edge cutting team when he joined us in 1991. He never cut corners, was always clean cut with a crew cut, and was clearly cut out for the job as he has worked with us for many decades.

Almost thirty years later, Darryl’s decided to cut away and semi retire. Let’s cut to the chase here though, as you’ll still find Darryl sharpening all our knives at Cherry Hill Coolstores. Does he have a cut off date in mind for when he’s going to cut loose and go cut grass instead? Darryl said to us “Don’t ask me to cut another spud, or my response may offend”.

Thank you Darryl, you are surely made from a fine cut.

INDUSTRY BODIES AND COMMITTEES HAVE SHAPED THE POTATO INDUSTRY OVER TIME

Interview with Kevin Langmaid

Over the years, there has always been an industry supporting body for the green vegetable farmers – and the potato industry has been part of this. These committees have helped to negotiate prices between farmers and companies, and also helped with development and improvements … a little bit each year.

In the early days, seed was cut by individual farmers. I remember as a kid, we would dig and cut seed by hand in Preolenna (25km from Wynyard). The grower was really happy with us. Tubers did quite well coming out of higher country, and production and seed were pretty good in general.

Sydney was quite a big market for us at the time, especially for Brownells Orbs. Ships would leave from Devonport or Burnie and sail to Melbourne, where the spuds would travel by train or boat to Sydney. Arrival times were more reliable when trains were involved.

It took a lot of time to make changes, as growers had to stick to the budget and big changes were not feasible. Nowadays, changes are easier to implement.

The Tasmanian Government’s “DPI” (now “TIA”) were heavily involved in research and what needed development. At the end of each year, a major field day was organised and they’d talk about diseases, successes, and events that caused problems. McCain’s really helped us when we first started, working with us for many trials and new processes over the years.

For example the chemical application has changed a lot. We found that different climates suited different methods, and required different chemicals. Because of this, we see very different seed varieties grown today, and with different technology used over time.

Our seed industry is now in a position to really market Tasmania, to mainland and overseas markets.

At Cherry Hill Coolstores, we’ve always tried to engage the very best technology possible, and to constantly develop new innovations.

It’s amazing how far you can come, by constantly making small changes.

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.

WHO ARE TASMANIAN SEED POTATOES

Tasmanian Seed Potatoes (TSP) was founded in July 2019, to provide agronomy and seed procurement services for the potato industry in Tasmania.

The four directors are Andrew Vandenberg, Andrew and Pam Langmaid and Conor O’Doherty.

Andrew Vandenberg is responsible for field operations, including planning the seed program, contracting seed growers, agronomy and post harvest management. Andrew and Pam Langmaid are responsible for business administration, accounting and record keeping. Conor O’Doherty is responsible for seed intake, implementing a seed tracking and management program, and seed allocation.

TSP manages the supply chain between growers, buyers, and processing factories.

Through proactive management, Tasmania has had great success with the lineal management of seed.
One objective of TSP is to create pathways for growers in high altitude areas to grow mini tubers and early generations of seed; providing G3 seed to all commercial growers, as this reduces the likelyhood of virus and diseases multiplying in the system.

TSP initiated a very simple contract for all growers. This contract was negotiated with input from the McCain nominated growers group, comprising of representatives from all parts of the industry – McCain Foods are TSP’s first client.

TSP reports to both McCain and growers, to communicate who has what seed and what
generation, to meet seed quantity targets.

TSP will continue to run seed tours for commercial growers. These improve the moral of growers and encourage industry networking – farmers are able to connect with each other, and share their skills, experience, as well as select their seed for the upcoming season. For seed growers, TSP will run field days which is a great opportunity for farmers to see higher yield crops, and learn and share knowledge.

In summary, our agronomy goals are: contracting of seed growers and allocations; plant mini tubers and distribute these to higher altitude paddocks; fertiliser recommendations and seed management; paddock preparation and irrigation; crop protection recommendations; timing of crop desiccation, weed/disease management and chemical sprays; harvester setup; and post harvest management.

Our seed procurement goals are: to meet our customer’s target volumes with the best quality seed possible; implement financial management and reporting, including pre-payments and seed payments; provide administration and lab services; provide reporting to growers and processors’; and seed tracking services.

If you have any questions please contact Andrew Vandenberg on 0499 776 488 or Conor O’Doherty on 0417 392 446

TESTIMONIAL … “Innovation is a key factor”

“Cherry Hill Coolstores is an innovative company that keeps up-to-date with everything. Andrew and Pam work very hard, and the whole team are great with our seed, they produce the very best seed they can for us. From meagre beginnings, innovation has truly been a key factor over the years – they’re always improving what they do, to do a better job for us. This past year for example, their new box tippers have greatly improved the turnaround times for our trucks. Cherry Hill Coolstores is a truly great family-owned business.”

Grant Little | Little Transport

View more of our testimonials here.