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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.