Potato growers in Queensland’s far north are suddenly in hot demand as drought-stricken paddocks in the country’s south fail to deliver.
Growers are receiving record prices as a national potato shortage turns more merchants’ heads to the north.
South Australia produces 80 per cent of Australia’s fresh potatoes, but extreme weather and drought across the southern state have caused widespread supply and quality issues.
David Nix, a potato grower and marketer on the Atherton Tablelands, is getting about $40 per 15 kilogram box of his Dutch Cream potatoes, $10 more than most years.
He said this year’s price is a record.
“It’s going out the door as quick as we can dig it,” he said.
“[Growers] have certainly got the best price they’ve seen in a long, long time.”
David Nix is receiving a record price for his Dutch Cream potatoes. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)
Dutch Cream potatoes supply a gourmet market, with high demand particularly out of Melbourne.
Mr Nix believed because the variety could pass as more mainstream, there was high demand for it this year given the shortage.
Up the road near Ravenshoe, potato grower Owen Jonsson grows the Excalibur variety, which looks like your typical white potato.
“The potato season’s been pretty good for everybody this season, providing you’ve had a reasonable crop,” he said.
“We can only fill a little bit of the gap, we don’t grow that many potatoes, but it all helps.”
One of the reasons Owen Jonsson started his potato harvest early this year was to help fill the supply gap. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)
He is receiving about double the price he typically would for his crop, at about $1,500 per tonne.
Due to high market demand, he started harvesting early.
“One of our merchants couldn’t get potatoes for himself, he couldn’t get supply, so we start early to fill his supply,” Mr Jonsson said.Some varieties struggling to sell
The surge in demand, however, is not across all varieties.
Mr Nix said that while prices were high and supplies tight, kipflers had become unexpectedly hard to move.
The elongated, restaurant-favourite variety has seen demand collapse.
Kipfler potatoes are not selling as well as other varieties this year. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)
“I don’t know why kipfler has dropped off so much, possibly it’s saying that people are not going out to restaurants as much as they used to, but that’s only part of it,” Mr Nix said.
“Maybe the price of kipflers is too expensive because the shops have invariably tripled the price of whatever they can buy it for.”
Queensland is not a large potato-growing state, but the few growers in the far north are having a good year. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)
Potato growing in Far North Queensland has had its challenges in recent years.
Mr Nix said the major supermarkets typically bought directly from their suppliers, which were limited corporate farms, instead of buying out of the markets.
This has pushed growers away from the industry, as they no longer can supply the big chains as easily as before.
But in a year like this, selling produce to the Brisbane and Sydney markets is providing a solid season for northern growers.