End of Potato Board

Press, 25 March 1988, Page 19

End of Potato Board

! The New j Zealand Potato Board, formed 37 years ago) will cease to exist aftert March 31. i the board, which was identified jby the Government as one of I the organisations to) be axed in the quango hunt in 1986, met for) the . last time this week? j 11 '' { The nine-member board) has iri recent years, comprised growers and ■ merchants and one Government I representative. The bbard operated under an 1 Act of;Parliament with, the responsibility; of promoting and assisting the orderly development of the potato industry and ensuring adequate sup-' plies were available. ? , Until the | act was, 'changed in 19)7)7, the board had the power to levy growers as part of a coriipdnsation (scheme in years) when there) was? a surplus ot potatoes. [ Mr| Neil McHugh, who has been) secretary of the board since its inception,, said the board had been, self-funding, Although lit was backed bj| a! Government [guarantee. However, the | board had ! never called on this (guarantee. Potato growers recently

united under the New Zealand Vegetable and Potato Growers’ Federation to help promote and organise the industry. I About 700 growers are involved in the industry, compared with about 6000 shortly after World War 11. ■ Pi.!.)'!-

{The board’s , chairman for the last four' years, Mr Colin McDonald, is confident the industp’’ will ,'be in | good hands: after the board is phased out.) Although the board had made three major unsuc-

cessful attempts in recent years to get) quality control standards legislated for the industry, the quality of potatoes to the consumer had improved markedly. More growers how took a lot more pride in packing good quality produce and the number pf compaints from con-) sumers had declined. 1 M Mr McDonald said he hoped that growers would be united in [their efforts to continue improving the quality of potatoes to the public. Improvements to cultural techniques and varieties had' contributed also to the rise in quality. . Potato production has remained about 260,000 [ tonnes a year for the last ‘ 20 years. The industry is) very sensitive to oversupply problems, with an increase of 5-10,000 tonnes likely to depress prices. Growers this season are) experiencing their second successive year of low; prices. l[| Mr McDonald (said there were encouraging signs that the processing' side of the (industry could; open up hew markets,! particularly) those in Paci-j fic rim countries, duririg the next five to 10 years. I