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Potatoes Australia December 2016/January 2017

entering the business, Kerry

admits it’s tough to entice the

next generation to work in the

potato industry.

“That’s the million dollar

question, and it’s a real

battle,” he says.

“Farming isn’t a real easy

life; that’s why it’s hard to get

someone who isn’t born-and-

bred into it to take over the

farms around the place at

the moment.”

Continual growth is all part

of the blueprint for the future

of Hauser Farms, as Kerry

prepares to transition the

business to Lachlan.

“We’ve got the quality of

potatoes pretty well where we

want it; we just need to keep

increasing our volume every

year,” Kerry says.

“As that increases, you can

branch your farm business

into other things. I think the

sky’s probably the limit for

someone who’s doing the right

job at the moment.”

doubting its future existence

several years ago.

“I probably got to a point

seven years ago where I didn’t

see why I had to grow because

I thought, ‘Oh well, I’m just

going to twiddle along for the

next five or six years, sell the

farm and I’ll retire too,’” he says.

“But then I had a son who

wanted to come home to the

farm and once he was home,

and settled in, I could see

that’s what he really wanted to

do. The growth in the business

since he’s return to the farm

has increased.

“There’s nothing better than

growing extra crops every

year and seeing the rewards

from those. It’s getting bigger

and better and there is newer

technology to harvest, grow,

pack and plant.

“If we’re growing a quality

product every year, Snack

Brands is happy to see us

increase our volume. It’s good to

build a strong relationship with

them so our business can keep

growing as they grow.”

While Hauser Farms has

benefited from the passion and

enthusiasm of a young grower

facing Hauser Farms.

“Water is back on the agenda

at the moment with allocations

looming and the lack of water

affecting 10 per cent of our

farms at the moment. Our

water has been right for years

but we’re starting to struggle

on some leased properties we

have,” he says.

“We just manage some of

our other crops and make sure

we have water for potatoes

every year. If we think we’re

going to be a little bit short of

water, we might drop off

another veggie crop that

doesn’t return as well.”

Challenges aside, Kerry

takes pride in working in

the potato industry.

“Harvesting a top crop –

that’s what I love to do, and

that’s why my job is on the

harvester. I love to be out

there harvesting a nice,

clean, disease-free crop of

potatoes,” he says.

Kerry nominates the rise of

Hauser Farms as his proudest

moment as a grower, after

on the farm during harvest.

The reliance on the seasonal

workforce is currently a

challenge Kerry faces.

“We do have some reliable

backpackers, but that’s under

threat with the backpacker tax

debate – we have to wait until

that’s sorted out,” he says at the

time of writing.

“I had a good chat to our

backpackers about it, and they

check out which country they

can make the most (money) in.

If they know they’re going to be

taxed at a really high rate, they

will just go to another country.

“I don’t know how we would

harvest a lot of our crops if we

never had the backpackers.

In our area around Gatton,

there’s probably up to 3,000

backpackers in town (during

peak harvest periods) and it

probably wouldn’t drop under

2,000 backpackers a year. If

you take a lot of those away, I

don’t know how potatoes and

all the other veggie crops in our

valley would get harvested.”

In addition to the challenges

of sourcing a reliable seasonal

workforce, Kerry says that lack

of water is another issue

Photography by Rowena Dione Photography.