Dorrigo growers work smarter at marketing red soil grown potatoes

The price spike had much to do with a number of growers exiting the industry after years of terrible returns – often no return – when prices fell below $200/t – as fully-irrigated potatoes grown in easily washed South Australian sand dominated the market.

“A lot of growers on the red soil never came back,” said Scott Beaumont, Dorrigo, who now grows a proprietary variety for Smiths under contract. He and his father Neville began picking last week in the rain atop Dorrigo Plateau and will continue through May, taking advantage of produce from a number of staggered plantings.

This summer was difficult, with the crop requiring seven good drinks of water from the irrigator but tonnage from ‘Frito Lay 1867’ was good enough at 36t/ha.

Previously when the family grew for market they produced two crops of Sebago variety, planting in October and February. Now they stick to one crop of the processing potatoes and diversify with cattle.

“We’ve had terrible crops in the past of 16t/ha and what makes it hard is that growers have to fork out 90 per cent of the input costs at the start,” said Scott who noted the family’s costs include NPK plus additional sulphate of potash. They add lime to their typically acidic red soils every four years at 2.5t/ha. Seed for FL 1867 comes from Victoria, while local Sebago growers source from Guyra or Crookwell.

Mechanical picking is standard these days with the last of the real diggers walking off the plateau a decade ago.

Planting follows defined rules: Deep rip twice and pass with the rotary hoe before planting into high nutrition with lime to offset the natural acidity of these red soils. The Beaumonts spray for weeds and for moderate fungal attack but pest pressure is negligible. “It is very rare for us to have a bug issue,” said Neville.

But potatoes are not everything for the Beaumonts, who run a rural store on the plateau. After potatoes they deep rip cross-ways to prevent erosion prior to sowing, first week in March, with rye, clovers and chicory before backgrounding their own weaners – Speckle Park/ Charolais. 

The family finishes them on their own corn silage at their Tyringham feedlot. Fat cattle are marketed direct through Woolworths.

“The system works together,” said Mr Beaumont.

The number of potato growers on the Dorrigo has plummeted from 30 a decade ago to five today and those that remain are working smarter not harder.

Heidi and Digger Guest, North Dorrigo, stagger their potato planting between to provide the commodity most of the year, in rotation with a variety of vegetables all  sold through Coles.

While the recent price spike was a wonderful Christmas present, with their crop leaving the shed in 3kg bags, they say other vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and silverbeat are bringing rewards as well.

The long-standing Dorrigo family, which includes fourth generation sons Steven and Tony manages to market a variety of product in a radius that extends from Taree to the Queensland border west to Moree and Tamworth.

By rotating brassicas after potatoes the soil gets a good cleansing and tests have shown their cultivated soils have maintained quality. In winter they plant oats and rye for green manure.

Chris Gibbins, who grows fresh potatoes through spring, summer and autumn in rotation with cattle much like the Beaumont family,on 100ha, takes a different approach. he sells his best crop through his own wholesale fruit and freight outlet ‘Tutti Frutti’ in Coffs Harbour, and was one of two growers on the plateau to benefit from the market shortage that resulted in superb returns through December. 

But there is no waste on his farm as seconds and the good ones ‘out of spec’ (under 100g or over 350g)  are machine washed, peeled and processed for the likes of nursing homes, hospitals and clubs.

“There’s no waste at all,” he says. “This year we had a tough season but the prices were brilliant with $1700/t back to the grower just prior to Christmas.”