CHERRY HILL COOLSTORES &
TASMANIAN SEED POTATOES
DECEMBER 2024
In our December newsletter, Edition 41, we’d like to share with you our Cherry Hill season report, part 2 of Adventures of Amos, our POTATOEUROPE 2024 trip with new equipment under construction. Read on for these stories and more…
Pictured above: New seed cutting line inspections in Spilsby, England, were invaluable.
IN THIS ISSUE
SEASON REPORT
Pictured left to right: Lynette Nankervis, Wayne Maxwell, Andrew Vandenberg, Justin Johnson, Iris Bacosa, Conor O’Doherty, Andrew Langmaid, Dominy O’Doherty and Pam Langmaid.
It has been another fantastic planting season, with superb weather conditions and very little rain. This meant contractors and growers could plant seed quickly and on time. Our planting season this year began earlier than usual again, with all seed mostly dispatched by the middle of November – at the time of printing, we had less than 1,000 tonnes of seed potatoes in storage.
The cutting crew have been consistently ‘top notch’ in our eyes, and have finished cutting in a timely manner. We finished carrots earlier this year too. For the 2025 season we expect carrots to commence in February with an early March start for seed potatoes.
We thank you all for your continued confidence in us and we wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Best wishes from all of us at Cherry Hill Coolstores, Tasmanian Seed Potatoes, and JACS Engineering and Maintenance.
TASMANIAN SEED POTATOES
“This year we’re two thirds of the way through planting, including the planting of mini tubers, and we should be finished planting by early December. It’s been a pretty easy planting season so far, with everything looking good.”
Andrew Vandenberg
MAINTENANCE REPORT
It has been another early start to the season for us. We’re currently working on the carrot line, and are eagerly looking forward to assisting Dobmac Agricultural Machinery in the assembly of the new cutting line equipment in early 2025.
We have fitting and boilermaking work scheduled to keep us busy from 23rd December until 14th January, so no time off for the JACS team.
This means if you need any maintenance and metal fabrication work over the holiday period, we’re here for you – please call Justin on 0498 780 553 if you require any help.
Justin Johnson
WAYNE’S WORLD
“Seed dispatch started early, but otherwise it has been a normal season with good weather and we have less than 1,000 tonnes to dispatch before Christmas. The condition of the seed was quite good overall.”
Farmers have had the new block system of allocations for McCain Foods this year, which seems to have worked well. Simplot’s seed allocations and dispatches have all been okay too. Planting has been reasonably good for everyone, but the season ahead is quite difficult to predict in terms of the weather – weather reports used to be more specific, but we’ve found that local weather data is more generalised and harder for everyone to forecast and plan ahead.
The new seed cutting line equipment will certainly change processes a fair bit at Cherry Hill. We’ll need more space to prepare and warm up seed for cutting in our cooler months, as we’ll have the capacity to cut up to 200 tonnes of seed in a day. We’ve already updated our computer / app system to allow for the new cut sizes and data to be recorded, and there are still a lot of moving parts and processes to be planned in order for us to make use of the increased
cutting capacity, and it’s something we’ll keep working on.
Wayne Maxwell
Pictured above: Andrew Langmaid, Andrew Vandenberg, Mark Dobson and Conor O’Doherty.
POTATOEUROPE 2024
The first stop for our September trip was PotatoEUROPE, which was held in France in Villers-Saint-Christophe. Our field days were great. We were all very impressed with how many potato breeders there are in Europe; and also the evolution of machinery available, which has come a really long way.
New seed cutting line
Our next stop was to visit Tong Engineering in Spilsby, England, to inspect our new seed cutting line equipment. We had the opportunity to see parts of the line assembled, and also see a 3D representation of the entire line – which was an invaluable experience. This presented us with a timely opportunity to make last minute changes prior to the final sections being fabricated. The engineering team are currently assembling the entire line for their final checks, then packing and shipping it to us in Tassie! The new equipment is estimated to arrive in late February, for a March install by Dobmac Agricultural Machinery.
Pictured above: the destination of our new machinery at Cherry Hill Coolstores, which is being built as we speak. Also pictured, our new seed cutting line equipment being manufactured and tested at Tong Engineering in Spilsby, England.
A SLICE OF LIFE AT CHERRY HILL
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POTATOEUROPE 2024
The Magna Carta was signed in 1215 AD and four copies have survived – one is kept in the medieval Lincoln castle, next to the pub. Our question is did the boys visit the castle, or just the pub?
Pictured above: The boys planned a visit to the pub ‘Magna Carta’ in Lincoln (left), Lincoln Castle (right).
Pictured above: PotatoEUROPE presented an opportunity to visit Jeremy Clarkson’s popular TV show location (left), and the Didley Squat Farm Shop (right).
ANDREW’S BIRTHDAY
Pictured above: The calligraphy on Andrew’s birthday cake brought tears of joy to Pam.
HIGH TEA
Pictured above: An early season again for our cutting team. To celebrate the end of the cutting season, the team visited the Grand on Macfie, in Devonport, for some High Tea in the Grand Dining Room.
ADVENTURES OF AMOS – PART ONE
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THE FIRST LANGMAID IN TASMANIA
Pictured: Amos Langmaid
This article was re-written from original story and research by Marion (Langmaid) Brown.
Amos (Langmead) was the great, great grandfather of Andrew Langmaid. Here is the second part to his story, where he moves back to Tasmania and discovers limestone.
Whilst in Melbourne, Amos was making a good profit in shoemaking, selling boots to newly arrived migrants who were rushing to the Victorian goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo. In 1853, Amos and Hannah welcomed a son, Arthur William Langmaid, born in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood.
It was during this time that life got a little complicated for Amos, his second wife Harriet arrived in Melbourne with her daughters. Whether she was looking for Amos or there for other reasons, we do not know. Harriet’s arrival made it difficult for Amos to remain in Melbourne, so Amos and his new wife moved their family back to Tasmania.
Harriet remained in Victoria until she died in 1874. Harriet’s story was marred with tragedy, she lost her daughter Susannah in 1863 and then her last surviving daughter, died in 1874 after the birth of a girl, Hattie Hallam. The infant Hattie died in 1875 at an age of one year.
In 1854, Amos and Hannah had started a fresh life in Tasmania and lived at Tarleton on the estuary of the Mersey River. Amos continued his business as a shoemaker. They welcomed more children, two sons, Alfred Tarleton and Amos Junior, and two daughters, Clara and Louisa.
There was much opportunity to be had in Tasmania for the adventurous. Amos, along with ‘Philosopher’ Smith, attended a meeting at Ballyhoo Hotel in 1859 to discuss searching for gold in the north-west of Tasmania. At the meeting, Dawson offered to build a track to assist the search party. Presumably this track went along Traveller’s Valley from Latrobe to Railton and Sheffield, as we note the aptly named site of ‘Dawson’s Siding’ on the railway line between Latrobe and Railton.
‘Philosopher’ Smith did discover some gold at Wilmot in 1859, but he later became much more famous for his discovery of tin at Mount Bischoff in 1870. On the hunt for gold, Amos Langmaid made a geological discovery of a different kind.
Amos was aware that coal had been discovered at Tarleton in 1853 and while on his travels saw that the surrounding country side was also rich in limestone. From growing up in Devon and nearby limestone cliffs, Amos knew the value of limestone. Back in England, Limekilns were constructed in the hills surrounding his village and along with coal to heat the kiln, they were used to obtain lime, which is useful for both building and agricultural purposes. Amos may have learnt and practiced the trade of a shoemaker, but he also had knowledge about the farming practices in county Devon and he seized upon an opportunity to obtain the limestone rich land.
TO BE CONTINUED next issue in part three of Amos’s story, where he settles on land around Railton and constructs his first Limekiln.
POTATOES TASMANIA INC.
Potatoes Tasmania recently hosted a drop-in session for growers and industry representatives to view the seed handling trial underway at the TIA Forthside Vegetable Research Facility. The session offered a valuable opportunity to explore the effects of different seed handling methods on emergence and early crop performance.
We’ll be holding monthly sessions to monitor the trial’s progress and encourage all growers and interested stakeholders to attend.
For more information about the trial or Potatoes Tasmania, please contact Bonnie Kenner at 0488 789 012.
STAFF PROFILE: KURT NORRIS
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Kurt grew up in the Latrobe / Wesley Vale area and has lived here all his life. Over the years he’s played football and basketball for Latrobe and ran a local irrigation business with his wife which they recently sold, enabling him to join Cherry Hill Coolstores in 2024.
Kurt’s role at Cherry Hill Coolstores involves many things, including a supportive role – helping to take the load off Wayne and Conor, and contributing to the day-to-day running of the site. In the New Year, Kurt will be calling all Cherry Hill clients to see what seed everyone needs.
In his spare time Kurt enjoys camping and trips away with his family in his caravan, whether it’s driving as far away as Hervey Bay in Queensland, or a short local trip to Port Sorell. He and his wife have a large blended family, with a combination of three daughters and two sons, and they are looking forward to spending time in their new home out in the garden and working on smaller jobs around the home. Having worked in irrigation, this time of the year was always Kurt’s busiest, so he’s certainly very appreciative of his new schedule at Cherry Hill saying earnestly “It’s a really great place to work and being able to take holidays at Christmas time.”
Pictured: Kurt Norris
Pictured: It takes an eagle eye to spot Wayne this time, buried inside a field of bulk bags. Can you see his red cap?
TESTIMONIAL… Simply terrific!
“We have worked with Cherry Hill Coolstores for seven years now. We usually deal with Conor, and have also found Iris and the rest of the office are very helpful – the experience for us is always really good, and made simple. We also appreciate the way Wayne and the guys deal with anything short-notice – which is the nature of farming and weather changes – and they are always terrific.”
Mr Jedd Atkins-Denby – Four Hills Farm
View more of our testimonials here.
CHERRY HILL COOLSTORES SEED GUARANTEE
Our Seed Management Services. Cherry Hill Coolstores will guarantee our services on Seed Growers seed. If you buy someone else’s certified seed, which is presented to Cherry Hill in good condition, and it breaks down, we will replace our cutting and services at no charge.
This guarantee specifically refers to seed piece breakdown (i.e. rot), and refers to seed which is delivered directly to Cherry Hill Coolstores from the seed paddock for chemical application, coolstoring and cutting. In order for this guarantee to be valid, the Buyer must make claims within 24-hours of the seed leaving Cherry Hill Coolstores and 
before planting.
In order for this guarantee to be valid, the buyer must make claims with 24 hours of the seed leaving Cherry Hill and before planting.
View more about our guarantee here.
MISSED A PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER?
Read past editions of our newsletter here.
GALLERY ADDITIONS
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