TasFarmers, Media Release, 19 September 2025

TasFarmers has slammed Woolworths’ recent decision to import frozen potatoes from India, warning it undermines Australian farmers and risks consumer trust.

TasFarmers President Ian Sauer said the move leaves local growers furious after years of heavy investment in equipment, irrigation and infrastructure.

“Potatoes aren’t a crop you can turn the tap on and off to; they take a five to eight year rotation and growers need certainty,” Mr Sauer said.

“Farmers have taken on big risks to supply the industry, and now they’re being left in the lurch.”

Mr Sauer said the decision shows the gap between supermarkets’ glossy “supporting farmers” campaigns and their actions.

“The recent inquiries into supermarket conduct should have been a wake-up call. Clearly, little has been learned,” Mr Sauer said.

TasFarmers has also criticised multinational processor Simplot for abandoning a long-standing fair model of supply negotiations with growers, while threatening to import potatoes from India or China if growers do not meet their reduced price offers for locally grown potatoes.

“This stacks the deck in favour of processors and pushes farmers backwards. It’s disappointing, a return to a 1950s master-servant culture that does nothing for agriculture or consumers,

“Tasmania and Australia have some of the most highly regulated agriculture in the world. Locally grown food is safe, clean and produced to the highest standards.

“Supermarkets must live up to their commitments to back local producers, and processors must return to fair and transparent negotiations,” Mr Sauer said.

TasFarmers’ negotiating committee continues to represent Tasmanian producers and ensure their concerns are heard at the highest levels.