{"id":860687,"date":"2026-08-19T10:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/860687\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T10:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:12:22","slug":"tasmanian-potato-growers-ongoing-contract-dispute-with-us-french-fry-giant-simplot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/860687\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmanian potato growers ongoing contract dispute with US French fry giant, Simplot"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bitter stalemate between frozen chip manufacturer Simplot and its Tasmanian suppliers has once again escalated, just weeks out from planting early potatoes for French fries.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the US multinational pulled the pin on price talks for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

Growers rejected Simplot’s proposed price reduction, resulting in a 57 per cent drop in returns for their potatoes from two years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Ringarooma<\/p>\n

Tasmanian potato growers rejected Simplot’s latest pay offer. (ABC News: Rose Grant)<\/p>\n

Potatoes are the most valuable agriculture sector in the state, but they’re also the most expensive crop to grow, costing around $25,000 a hectare or 42 cents a kilo.<\/p>\n

The price Simplot wants to pay farmers this season is between 46 and 49 cents a kilo.<\/p>\n

Growers threatened by Simplot’s tough talk<\/p>\n

Farmers aren’t just concerned with the price, but with their treatment by Simplot.<\/p>\n

Tractor convoy unable to break Tasmanian potato pay stalemate<\/a><\/p>\n

Tasmanian potato farmers have rejected a second pay offer from multinational processor Simplot that would see farmers paid less per kilo than last year.<\/p>\n

The company has cut potato volumes and cancelled a number of contracts.<\/p>\n

Then, in an unprecedented move, Simplot bypassed the grower committee that negotiates the contract on behalf of around 150 farmers.<\/p>\n

Instead, it approached individual growers to sign incomplete contracts before they viewed a new supply agreement outlining changes to terms and conditions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nathan Richardson participated in a tractor convoy protest last year.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (ABC News: Laurissa Smith)<\/p>\n

Those growers were given seven days to sign the agreement, after which Simplot said it “may accept or reject at its sole discretion”.<\/p>\n

TasFarmers vegetable council chair Nathan Richardson said Simplot’s behaviour is out of line.<\/p>\n

“That’s created massive pressure on the individual grower,” the north-west potato farmer said.<\/p>\n

“Operating under duress or being signed under duress is never a nice position to be put in.”\"A<\/p>\n

TasFarmers has raised serious concerns that Simplot bypassed the grower negotiating committee. (ABC News: Laurissa Smith)<\/p>\n

Mr Richardson said Simplot’s grower committee has also questioned the legality of the new offer.<\/p>\n

A new condition in the agreement could also make farmers liable if there was a recall on potato chip products, even months after potatoes have left their farm.<\/p>\n

“How we see it is that the farmer will be liable for the cost of that recall and any subsequent legal proceedings,” Mr Richardson said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got to take the worst possible scenario in today’s litigious world of corporatism.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

Simplot supplies potato chips to Coles, Woolworth, McDonalds and KFC. (ABC Rural: Hugh Hogan)<\/p>\n

Union linked to chip factory backing growers<\/p>\n

Mike Wickham has been dealing with Simplot for the last 12 years as the Tasmanian organiser of the Australian Manufacturing and Workers’ Union.<\/p>\n

He said the company has indicated it’ll cut back the potato volume through its Ulverstone plant by around 30,000 tonnes from its 2027 harvest.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Mike Wickham is concerned for the welfare of Ulverstone farmers and the broader community. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n

“Without potatoes, there’s no manufacturing of chips,” Mr Wickham said.<\/p>\n

“So, if they drive these farmers too far into the dirt with a price where its unsustainable to grow the crop, then it’s a big impact on this Ulverstone site and its employees … that’s our concern.”<\/p>\n

The grower committee have approached Simplot’s customers, Coles, Woolworths, McDonald’s and KFC, to outline their predicament and concerns about the rise in imported potato chips.<\/p>\n

So far, only Coles and McDonald’s have responded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Farmers have rejected a price offer made by food manufacturer Simplot for their potato crop this season. (ABC News: Laurissa Smith)<\/p>\n

Growers say they’re reluctant to speak out about Simplot’s behaviour for fear of retribution.<\/p>\n

“What a terrible feeling our growers have that, in fear of speaking out, their volume of spuds they grow, or the whole contract may be put in question by the company, ” Mr Richardson said.<\/p>\n

“I mean that is just an awful way to do business in Australia.<\/p>\n

“It’s not the Australian way.”\"Red<\/p>\n

Yesterday, growers voted to get Simplot back to the negotiating table within the next four days. (ABC News: Meg Fergusson)<\/p>\n

Simplot has not responded to questions for this story, but last week the company said in a statement “it rejected any suggestion it has acted inappropriately or sought to pressure growers during these discussions”.<\/p>\n

The company also said its “engagement is conducted professionally, respectfully and in good faith”.<\/p>\n

It also added that “its priority remains reaching arrangements that provide certainty for growers, support Tasmanian potato production, and help ensure the ongoing competitiveness and viability of Australia’s potato processing industry”.<\/p>\n

The company has agreed to meet with the grower negotiating committee at the end of the week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bitter stalemate between frozen chip manufacturer Simplot and its Tasmanian suppliers has once again escalated, just weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,40172,430475,104,25977,430471,94066,87014,430473,53664,430474,430472,46625,49209,51389,9074,119004,28210,168872,2801,121862,102],"class_list":["post-860687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-chip","tag-chipper","tag-coles","tag-convoy","tag-famer","tag-growers","tag-kfc","tag-leigh-elphinstone","tag-mcdonalds","tag-mike-wickham","tag-nathan-richardson","tag-potato","tag-potato-chips","tag-potatoes","tag-prices","tag-simplot","tag-strike","tag-supplier","tag-tasmania","tag-tractor","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}