The voice of - and for - New Zealand's potato growers
We represent the interests of New Zealand's 200-plus potato growers, whether they grow potatoes for the table, for processing into potato products, or as seed potato.
New Zealand's potato industry is worth an annual $147 million (in the year to March 2010) at the farm gate and we take our responsibility to protect those returns and improve them very seriously. We are responsible for lobbying on our growers' behalf and providing them with timely information about what's going on in their industry, and what new technologies or techniques could help them run their businesses even better.
Potatoes New Zealand is one of the 22 product groups affiliated to Horticulture New Zealand and is directly responsible for promoting the needs of potato growers, as well as the value of their product.
Our organisation is funded by a levy paid by all potato growers (0.75% on value of potatoes at first point of sale), collected under the Commodity Levies Act. That levy - charged according to how much a grower produces - is used to fund our many activities, which include:
- Investigating and negotiating new export markets for New Zealand potatoes
- Promoting the consumption of potatoes in the domestic market
- Funding research to better understand issues that are affecting our growers, particularly biosecurity issues
- Coordinating and funding a programme to address the psyllid
- Holding an annual conference and other meetings for growers
- Newsletters and other communications to growers
- Maintaining this website and the consumer-focused www.potatoes.co.nz website
- Contributing to the production of Grower magazine
- Paying our share of staff salaries and office overheads within our parent organisation, Horticulture New Zealand.
What we do
Whatever concerns New Zealand potato growers, concerns us. We take a leadership role in helping our growers find new and better ways to produce their products and grow their businesses. We invest in research and development to grow better cultivars and prevent disease, and we share those results with our growers. We encourage collaboration within and across the industry, including with other potato producer bodies overseas.
We create quality benchmarks for our products to meet and exceed. We run the New Zealand Seed Potato Certification Scheme (through the New Zealand Seed Potato Certification Authority) so our domestic and international consumers know that the potatoes they buy are the variety they say they are and are as free of disease as possible. We seek out new export markets and negotiate access for our product.
We also promote potatoes to New Zealanders as the 'super food'. Our efforts were given a welcome boost by the International Year of the Potato in 2008. The momentum from our efforts that year are on-going as food writers, nutritionists, the food service industry, retailers and consumers continue to cook and eat more and more nutritious potatoes.
You can find out more about who Potatoes New Zealand works with to promote and improve our potato industry here.
Potatoes New Zealand has an ongoing commitment to sustainability in all its forms, including the financial stability of our growers, the long-term sustainability of the whole industry, and environmental sustainabilityl. These three 'sustainability' factors are vital to the success of our industry.
What we stand for
The values of Potatoes New Zealand are to behave in a way that are INCLUSIVE, provide INSPIRATION, and demonstrate INTEGRITY.
