May 27, 2016Simplot signs new deal with Tasmanian growers
Simplot has agreed to pay its suppliers in Tasmania 5 percent more. The increase is set to be phased in over the next three years.
The contract with Simplot was negotiated by a growers’ collective bargain group.
Here’s more from ABC Rural:
[The group was] headed by Scottsdale farmer Trevor Hall.
“Simplot have offered a supplementary payment for the harvest we’re currently doing, due to adverse conditions, and that’ll be $320 a hectare,” Hall said. “That’s for the crop that’s being pulled out of the ground now, so that’s classed as a supplementary payment.”
“Then we’ll start a three-year contract for the next planting in spring, which will see a price increase of $7.50 a ton, then a year after that $5, and the year after that a price increase of $2.50 a ton.”
The new contract ends a period of uncertainty for processing potatoes in Tasmania, when declining terms of trade and wage demands took a toll.
