14 | Rich family history with the humble spud Rosa Watson After 40 years in the potato growing industry Stuart Wright has seen it all. His family have been growing potatoes near Sheffield in Canterbury since early last centuary “We’ve had a long time in the potato industry. There’s an entry in my grandfather’s diary that they were planting potatoes in November 1918 when they heard the war had ended. So, they knocked off early and had a celebratory drink.” The farm is one of the few remaining potato seed producers in the Sheffield area, which along with Methven has been traditionally a major seed growing area. The property also grows rye grass, cereals, peas and fodder crops for finishing lambs over winter, as well as grazing dairy cows. Over his 40-year career in the industry, Stuart has spent 10 years as the chair of Potato New Zealand (PNZ), having previously chaired the committee that restructured it in 2013. “We basically rebuilt it in a model that was much more responsive to growers demands. We were trying to meet what growers were wanting with the industry.” He is pleased with the progress the organisation has made, but recognised it was ongoing work. “We’re basically a much more effective organisation, but it’s the old story; you can always do better.” He will step down from the Potato New Zealand board this year, saying it is time to go. “When your time’s up you can have no regrets. You’re not there forever. There’s plenty of good people out there.” He hoped PNZ would keep delivering for the industry. One of the biggest challenges he had struck as chair was the arrival of Tomato Potato Psyllid (TPP). “It has changed the way growers have had to manage their crops and it’s had a significant cost.” It arrived in 2005 but it wasn’t until 2010 and 2011 that it took hold in the South Island. It had resulted in PNZ moving towards spending more on research and development (R&D), he said. “Research is never wasted. You can often do a lot of R&D work, but you don’t come up with answers. But there’s that body of work that will always be there for a later date that will be useful to someone. “It’s finding answers to some of the problems – giving the growers the tools to be able to manage their crops.” ARABLE » Annat Farm: Stu Wright almac-nz.com Proudly Associated with Annat Farms New Zealands leading suppliers of quality seed potatoes Alex McDonald and its contracted seed potato growers produce high health seed potatoes for the New Zealand fresh market, crisping and french-fry sectors. Table potatoes are also exported throughout the South Pacific Islands. The growing and packing of seed potatoes is carried out on farms within the area of the Canterbury Plains. Christchurch Office 171 Waterholes Road Springston , Canterbury Telephone: Phone: 03 358 3390 Mob: 021 322943 Proudly supporting Annat Farms There has also been work done in reducing carbon emissions. “There’s been a lot of work done on how to manage our rotations as to how we improve our footprint and manage our carbon. We can always do better, and that’s what we should be striving to do. “(The research) benefits not only the environment and climate but also the levy paying growers. If we can be smarter and do things better, then everybody wins.” Stuart was noticing a “shrinking” in the industry. Many small growers are struggling to compete in what is a capital intensive industry. The larger growers were getting bigger with efficiencies of scale. There would always be small growers but as time goes on there’s will be a drift towards the bigger players, he said. “How long can we continue? Because we can’t compete with those big growers. It’s hard to say.” However, the future was in good hands. There were some very good and smart people in the industry from different backgrounds and cultures making huge contributions, he said. Potatoes would always be an important part of food supply, as would the farmers that produce them. Stuart Wright.
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