SOUTH Australia is the heartbeat of the Australian potato industry, and the Farmer Group – headed by Matthew Farmer and his son Luca – are changing the game with exciting new technology.

Farmer Group’s roots date back to 1956, with Matthew’s grandfather Jack Farmer beginning in horticultural; it was Matthew’s Father Barry Farmer who with his foresight and aptitude built the foundations of the family’s potato business.

Four generations later the business has continued to go from strength-to-strength, expanding from the original 40 acres to 90,000 acres. In fact, the purchase of their south-east property Kangaringa in 2003 has allowed the family to grow the plantings from 141 hectares to more than 1,600 hectares today.

As well as potatoes, Farmer Group has invested in complimentary products including onions, almonds, broadacre crops, Merino Sheep and Black Angus cattle, with next generation of Farmer, Luca, explaining how they all work in harmony.

“Across our 170-plus pivot sites we cycle through various crops, to ensure soil quality is maintained,” he explained.

“It’s really, just about having a diverse farm that works in unison. We utilise the crop cycle to organically rejuvenate and prepare soils for our primary crops, potatoes and onions.

“Rhizoctonia (a soil-borne fungus that causes rot) can be a real problem in potato pivots; a canola crop is a good way to mitigate that risk whilst also using the benefit of its large taproot to open the soil ready for the next potato pivot.

“As a farm we work hard towards having zero product wastage. After a potato harvest, the potatoes that have been left behind become a great nutrient source for our livestock.”

Farmer Group clearly has a deep understanding of the science behind farming, and the business has also recently turned to technology to advance their state-of-the-art potato packing facility, which features specially designed machinery not found anywhere else in the country.

The facility was first built in 1986, but in recent years Farmer Group has collaborated with some of the world’s top minds in the automation industry to create one of Australia’s most impressive, high-tech packing operations.

Chief operating officer Jessica Avery explained.

“During the past five years we decided it was ‘go time’, we started to design a line that would fit in our custom-built packing shed,” she said.

“We did apply for many different government grants, and were unsuccessful, so the Farmer family agreed that the only way forward was to provide the funding themselves for the $55million investment.

“It has been a rewarding opportunity to work with world leaders in automation. Barry Farmer spent a lot of time researching automation, including various trips overseas to look at European packing facilities – engineering has always been a passion of his.

“The last two years have seen that life’s passion and all our planning come together. In October 2022 our first shipping containers started to land; we took delivery of 88 40-foot shipping containers within the first three-month period.

“By the following October we were running potatoes through the line, within a short 12-month turnaround to be able to stand all that equipment in the packing shed was quite an achievement for us.

“Now 12 months on we are still astonished at the sheer volume and the quality of what we can put through the processing line, and we’re going to continue to evolve and develop – and even that isn’t the end for us, it’s looking at what comes next now.

“In the past when we were always striving and looking for more, we were having to say no to different orders because we just couldn’t meet the turnaround, whereas now we don’t have to say no – we can fill a 40-foot shipping container in around three hours. It’s a total game-changer.

“The automation has allowed us to have better control over the potatoes that are coming through the line, it’s now about ‘how do we best commercialise more of that crop?’ and ‘what’s next for the Farmer Group in the way of potatoes?’”

Ms Avery went on to discuss the state of the industry, post-Covid.

“The entire potato industry has enjoyed a strong uptick since the pandemic,” she said.

“Pre-Covid times the potato industry within Australia was actually in decline, but since then and as the economy has started to struggle and families are under more financial pressures, the humble potato is in demand.

“It is one of the most cost-effective and versatile commodities on the supermarket shelves and we are finding that the consumer demand for it has grown.

“Internationally the consumer demand for potatoes is also on an increase. In the past the Asian nations were large rice consumers, they are now becoming substantial consumers of potatoes.

“Australian table potatoes are the best in the world, from both a visual and palatable point, but it is also our family farming story and security over controlling the full process from planting, growing, harvesting to packing that has become a large component of why our product is in such high demand internationally.

“Did you know that potatoes are the original superfood? They have amazing health properties that are regularly overlooked.

“They have more Vitamin C than an orange, they are rich in antioxidants and when cooked and cooled they release a starch known as resistant starch that is great for gut health.”

To continue the next generation of the business, Farmer Group is looking for the next generation of farmers to get on board.

“To anyone local in the area that is looking for employment, we are always looking for skilled labour within the automated factory and on the farms,” Ms Avery said.

“We are particularly looking for that next generation, that youth, to get involved in farming.

“It’s one of the greatest struggles facing many in agriculture across Australia – horticulture and farming is not appealing to the youth – and I believe it is because they don’t understand what’s available.

“There’s a pre-conceived notion about what a potato-packing shed looks like versus what it is, which is state-of-the-art, amazing technology.

“It’s the same when you start going onto the farms, trying to get more people involved in farming and out to our regional areas. Honestly, if you want an opportunity to drive a piece of equipment worth millions, go farming.”

To find out more about Farmer Group and its products, head to virginiafarmproduce.com.