CHERRY HILL COOLSTORES &
TASMANIAN SEED POTATOES
SEPTEMBER 2023
Spring has sprung! In our September newsletter, Edition 37, we’d like to share with you our Cherry Hill season report, plus the first in a new series ‘Anecdotes from Poppy’. Andrew at Tasmanian Seed Potatoes give us a potato update and Justin from JACS reports on maintenance. Read on for these stories and more…
Pictured above: Kevin and Patricia Langmaid (Poppy and Nanny) share precious details of their lives from the 1940s onwards.
IN THIS ISSUE
SEASON REPORT
Pictured left to right: Andrew Vandenberg, Wayne Maxwell, Andrew Langmaid, Iris Bacosa, Pam Langmaid, Justin Johnson and Conor O’Doherty.
It has been a tough year so far for storage, with some seed lines showing signs of rot, due to the early frosts this season.
We are confident that for most seed lines we can minimise the damage and present seed for planting in good condition. Wayne has done a fantastic job of managing the storage of everyone’s seed. We currently have just under 13,000 tonnes of seed potatoes in storage.
We’ve pre-cut approximately half of the seed that we have in cool storage, and the planting season is approaching fast. Our planning schedule is well on track – but as always, if anyone has a special request, please get in contact with Conor.
We have new staff members that have joined the team, including Peter (who by the way is the happiest forklift driver you could ever hope to meet), Drew, Nathan, Jack, Jackson and Dominy, our new face in accounts – you can read more about Dominy in this issue.
WAYNE’S WORLD
“It has been a challenging year state-wide with rain and frosts early in the season. We’ve been working on getting seed the best quality we can for everyone.”
Wayne Maxwell
CARROT WASHING
The carrot harvesting / washing season is drawing to a close – scheduled to finish on the 4th October. There is still about 3,000 tonne remaining in paddocks. Fingers crossed that the weather will allow us to finish this before the factory shutdown.
TASMANIAN SEED POTATOES
We have been busy getting ready for the next season. Potato growers’ prices have been negotiated with McCain Foods, and seed allocations are locked in. We’ll be confirming everyone’s tonnage targets very soon. We certainly hope the upcoming season will be an easier one, weather-wise, for all our growers.
Andrew Vandenberg
MAINTENANCE REPORT
Everything has been running smoothly this year, and we’re currently gearing up equipment so it’s ready for seed dispatches and the shutdown season.
Our new business manager Denny Barrientos started in July and has been settling in well. We’re delighted to offer Cherry Hill Coolstores customers, our maintenance and metal fabrication services, please call Justin on 0498 780 553 if you require any help.
Justin Johnson
FIELD TRIP
Andrew L. and Conor will be visiting New Zealand this month, to meet with the McCain Potato Seed Co-op.
Their aim is to learn more about the latest machinery installed for cutting and handing. We will have an update in the December newsletter about their findings.
A SLICE OF LIFE AT CHERRY HILL
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| Renovation Update Our renovations are pretty much complete from a structural point of view, and we have finishing touches on the go, such as signage, furniture and styling. We hope you have enjoyed visiting us in our expanded administration space. |
Where’s Wayne? Pictured: Wayne’s first and only lunch event with Iris and Conor, at the Thai Imperial Restaurant in Latrobe. |
ANECDOTE’S FROM POPPY
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GETTING TO KNOW KEVIN LANGMAID BETTER
Our first series is from the 1940s to 1969, where Kevin’s early childhood memories start with no electricity and no running water and sleeping in a room with two older brothers. The 180 acre farm he lived on was called Ben Acres, and was a mix of crops and stock with cows, sheep and lots of chooks and horses.
Pictured: Kevin Langmaid
“I started school in 1945 at the Kindred Primary School about 5km from our property, which seemed to me to be a really long way to walk to school on a gravel road in those days.
Our non-school days meant many happy hours learning to harness and drive the draft horses on the property, as well as other chores such as hand milking cows and picking potatoes.
In January 1950, Kindred students were sent by bus to the new Sprent area school – I was in grade 6 at the time. It was a very modern school, the footy was great and we even had a sports day.
That same year in December, my Dad passed away after a three year illness, unfortunately I only have vague memories about my Dad.
I left school in 1953 to work with my two brothers on the farm, which my brother Doug had purchased. My teenage years were filled with work, football, square dancing, fishing, badminton, and ballroom dancing.
In 1957 I found and fell in love with a beautiful young lady called Patricia Sellars. We were married in 1959 and started our married life in the old homestead on the farm, which had been previously been used for shearing sheep…my, what a big clean up that was!
In 1962, with my entrepreneurial eagerness and desire to succeed driving me, I wanted to purchase a farm of my own … I had no money, however my brother Doug very generously lent Pat and I a large deposit for a bank loan, which allowed us buy 72 acres and house in Clerkes Plains Road, Kindred. We now had two children, a big mortgage and finally a place to call home.
Our farm was run as a mixed cropping and livestock, working in partnership with Doug and Jack’s farms. We milked our 25 cows by 7:30am every morning, so that we could start on our cropping chores by 8am.
By this time, we had graduated from using horses to cultivate our property, to tractors and other more modern machinery. We then went from stationary balers and thrashing machines, to pick up balers and pick up headers, as well as a crawler tractor to work our steeper country.
Potato growing was always a big part of our cropping program, along with canning peas and tares (a flowering legume in the pea family), while the cows were our regular monthly income. Some season’s potatoes were good, which enabled us to finish paying off our loans for the farm in 1968.
We supplemented our income by doing contract work, including PWD, building Devonport’s new bridge over the Mersey River in 1965-66. I also worked on a casual basis for a young company called Boisdale Contractors, who harvested and processed vegetables for McCain.
By this time in 1969, Pat and I had three children and a very busy lifestyle. The workload with Boisdale Contractors was relentless, so we sold our cows to lighten the workload.”
To be continued…read our next update from Poppy in the December newsletter.
STAFF PROFILE: DOMINY O’DOHERTY
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Dominy joined the administration team in March 2023, which means we have another fabulous husband and wife duo at Cherry Hill.
Dominy grew up in Ulverstone and has enjoyed living on the north-west coast of Tassie. Prior to Cherry Hill, she worked in admin at the Burnie and Mersey hospitals for almost 10 years.
At Cherry Hill, she has teamed up with Pam and Iris, her responsibilities are in Accounts.
In her spare time, she looks after her two gorgeous children (three, if we count Conor), who all keep her very busy (especially Conor). She has many hobbies which include Pilates, eating out, shopping, walking and bike rides with the kids. If you’re popping into Cherry Hill, Dominy will be one of the first smiling faces you encounter in reception.
Pictured: Dominy O’Doherty
Pictured: Wayne recommends the inclusion of a forklift to deliver all the food to the table, for any future Cherry Hill lunch get togethers.
TESTIMONIAL…They’re fantastic
“I mostly work with Conor and Andrew L. at Cherry Hill Coolstores (plus the carrot boys), and they’re all fantastic! I’ve found them always willing to help, and take on challenging opportunities – Cherry Hill provides cool storage and washing of carrots, which has enabled continuity of supply to our processing factory, and is a testament of their innovation.”
Angus Galloway, Agriculture Manager for Vegetables
– Simplot, Devonport Tasmania
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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