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Advice on Publications Available.Potatoes
I have been reading your newsletter for some time now and can see why you continually nag about identifying the consumer before a new crop product is produced and presented for sale.
My own concerns are with the humble potato.
Perhaps you could give me some advice about how something we all eat can be marketed the same way?
Potato, according to the newspaper reports here, has been singled out as the target for a major crop improvement campaign, with the calling card of 'Super Spud'. This awesome vegetable will be disease free and will be available in two years.
Such an advance will surely encourage a reduction in the cost of growing spuds and the chance of getting a healthier product, because less poison means a healthier spud in the minds of consumers.
The reason I find the potato a strange choice for a major crop improvement campaign is that there have been many times that the farmers in our area can't give their potatoes away.
Our local area has been a major producer of potatoes for the big city markets for many years. We also grow a lot of beetroot, onions, broccoli etc. The farmers have always been willing, keen and able to grow any new breed of potato or any other crop for that matter.
In the past, different production methods have been tried and improved so the farmers are quite capable of developing more economical ways to produce the product.
Irrigation management was introduced and has been improved over the years and tonnage per acre has increased, proving the farmers are quite reasonable producers.
In fact, the area has been described by ebullient local government authorities as 'Australia's Market Garden'.
But apparently not 'Australia's Marketing Garden'.
There have been problems recently with selling the potatoes. My question is: If the producers can't sell potatoes now, why would they want to grow 'Super Spud' in two years?
A lot of the local farmers are production-based only. They plant, grow and harvest the potatoes into 50kg bags on farm, loading the 50kg bags onto trucks for market. That's the last they see of the produce.
It would appear that the farmers have not paid much attention to their product once it gets in the bag. As well, the 50kg bags are heavy and thus difficult to handle without damaging the potatoes.
In the farmers' eyes, they depend on the agent for a good price. The farmers' motto appears to be 'Grow as much as you can, sell what you can and dump the rest'. If the price for the crop isn't any good, they have the advantage of switching to some other crop.
I know that the consumer doesn't buy 50kg of potatoes at a time, so why can't the potatoes be graded, cleaned of excessive soil (another sore point in the eye of the consumer since they don't wish to buy someone else's dirt) and packaged in more user friendly sizes from say 5 kg to 15 kg, directly for the consumer from the farm?
I know that rice and pasta have achieved this.
They've even gone further with the value-adding with vegetables, spices and flavourings to market complete meals that people want to buy.
What is embarrassing for the potato growers in our area is that another potato growing area, which is much further from the major markets than we are, has succeeded in marketing their potatoes more effectively in the same marketplace.
The potato crops in the two regions come from the same certified seed sources and the farming practices are apparently identical.
The only difference appears to be the colour of the soil; the other region has distinctly red soil.
From my observations, it would appear that the growers in the area further from the market, realised they had a problem with marketing potatoes, so they were pro-active in doing something to investigate the needs of their consumers.
Consumers nowadays are in a hurry. They want something quick and easy.
Something in a packet from the shop that's easily opened, dropped into boiling water or a microwave oven and is ready to be eaten in ten minutes, with no fuss or hassle.
The Red Soil Potato Farmers have done their marketing homework and have tried to meet consumer needs.
They set out some time ago to improve the quality, reliability and consistency of a good product, to produce something that consumers and the supermarkets wanted and were willing to pay for.
Red soil has become an unofficial brand to tell their potatoes apart.
Perhaps at least one local producer has learnt a lesson.
Rumour has it he has been caught value-adding to his potatoes by adding red soil.
What should our local producers do?
Having a long history of potato production, the majority of them still think of their farms as being separate rural enterprises.
How should one encourage producers to join together to share their knowledge, to fight competition effectively or to get a value-adding manufacturing plant established in the area?
I am aware of one small group of local farmers and business associates who are looking into marketing, retailing and quality control. I hope the entire area joins together to support this group.
It's important to produce a product that the consumer wants, to maintain quality and reliability, to promote benefits and build a name so people will come back and buy more.
The farmers could pool their resources and put out tenders for the R&D they want done on new ways to get their produce into the consumer's mind.
It's time to get marketing research initiated into fresh and processed produce.
Why does every major change in agriculture have to be precipitated by a crisis?
Those primary producers who are currently enjoying buoyant economic conditions, should be investigating new products, new markets, even new crops.
It's not good enough to just pray for our competitors and farmers in other areas to have a natural disaster.
If we are going to pray, let's pray for united leadership.
Australian Native Citrus
Re: Birmingham, EM 'Australian Native Citrus'. The Australian New Crops Newsletter. Issue 10, July 1998: 39-43
I would like to include a copy of the above article on my web site and to exchange links with your New Crops Home Page.
Also, you may be interested to know that both Eremocitrus glauca and Microcitrus australasica are currently being reclassified back into Citrus.
Under this new classification, there will no longer be a Microcitrus australasica var sanguinea.
Taxonomists make it tricky, don't they?
This means that my above article on native citrus nomenclature is already outmoded.
I have chosen to commercialise the 'Rainforest Pink Pearl' using the original published name :
Citrus australasica F. Mueller var. sanguinea FM Bailey (Published in Department of Agriculture Queensland Botanical Bulletin 18: 8, in 1892).
Erika Birmingham
Byron Bay Native Produce
Telephone: 02 6687 1087
Facsimile: 02 6687 1087
Email: erikab@om.com.au
Web Site: www.bushfoods.com.
Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter
Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email:
r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au[
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GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF