• Australia’s biggest potato producer, Mitolo Family Farms, has been awarded an international accolade for industry contributions at the World Potato Congress 2024.
Source: Mitolo Family Farms
    Australia’s biggest potato producer, Mitolo Family Farms, has been awarded an international accolade for industry contributions at the World Potato Congress 2024. Source: Mitolo Family Farms
  • It took three years of R&D before Mitolo, packaging converter Detpak, and Coles launched a kerbside recyclable paper bag for fresh potatoes. (Image: Detpak)
    It took three years of R&D before Mitolo, packaging converter Detpak, and Coles launched a kerbside recyclable paper bag for fresh potatoes. (Image: Detpak)
  • Mitolo Family Farms has been named the 2023 Overall Trade Partner of the Year.
    Mitolo Family Farms has been named the 2023 Overall Trade Partner of the Year.
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Australia’s biggest potato producer, Mitolo Family Farms, has been recognised for its contribution to the industry at the World Potato Congress 2024, held in Adelaide this week. It is the first time an Australian grower has received the coveted Industry Award.

More than 1000 delegates attended the congress, which was held from 23-26 June. Mitolo received the Industry Award for its contributions to the growth and development of the global potato industry.

Mitolo Family Farms founders, Bruno and Angela Mitolo (right of photo) and their three sons, Frank, John, and Darren, who now run the company. (Source: Mitolo)
Mitolo Family Farms founders, Bruno and Angela Mitolo (right of photo) and their three sons, Frank, John, and Darren, who now run the company. (Source: Mitolo)

Mitolo Family Farms was founded in 1972 and has gone on to become a category leader in the production of potatoes and onions, supplying fresh produce to major supermarkets and wholesalers nationally.

Managing director, Frank Mitolo, said that the award was a testament to the incredible legacy his parents, Bruno and Angela Mitolo, as well as the many people who have been part of the company’s team over its 50-year history.

“Our operation is now spread over 40,000 hectares in South Australia and New South Wales and we produce 200,000 tonnes of potatoes and 60,000 tonnes of onions each year,” Mitolo said.

“Quality and innovation has been a hallmark of our business and we have won many awards over the years. To be amongst industry peers makes this one particularly special and is fantastic recognition for everyone in our business – from my parents right through to our packers on the shed floor.”

“We were certainly humbled to win this award amongst such strong producers and industry representatives from all over the world,” said Mitolo.

The company began as an aggregator and packer of potatoes from third party growers in the Virginia region of South Australia, before taking control of the supply chain in 1989, and acquiring property to start its own farming operations.

In 2016, the business acquired the fresh and brushed potato operations of Oakville Produce, its then largest direct competitor – virtually doubling the size of the business overnight.

In 2020, Mitolo acquired Thomas Food International’s (TFI) fresh potato business to increase its capacity and business continuity increase capacity and business continuity for packing and grading fresh produce in the Virginia region and to future proof the business through additional farming and water assets.

It sold a majority stake in the business to Ontario’s Teachers’ Pension Plan in March 2023. The Mitolo family retains a stake in its ownership, but at the time of the deal, Mitolo said the company needed extra capital to deliver its growth plan.

Today, the business is a grower, packer, distributor and wholesaler of fresh washed potatoes, fresh brushed potatoes, and fresh onions. With farms in the Riverland, Mallee and Virginia regions of South Australia as well as in Hillston, New South Wales, Mitolo Family Farms now has major packing facilities in both states.

Commitment to R&D

Alongside its farming capabilities, Mitolo Family Farms recognised the importance of varietal development and Plant Variety Rights exclusivity within Australia for potatoes. It was an early leader in the development of Low Carb and Lower GI potatoes, releasing the exclusive Coles branded Carisma potatoes in 2010.

The business has an extensive R&D program, which trials potato varieties under Australian growing conditions for taste, appearance, shelf-life, defect and disease resistance, growing attributes, and yields.

This sees Mitolo Family Farms trialling as many as 100 varieties at any one time, with the timeframe of trial to commercialisation sitting between 5-10 years.

It took three years of R&D before Mitolo, packaging converter Detpak, and Coles launched a kerbside recyclable paper bag for fresh potatoes. (Image: Detpak)
It took three years of R&D before Mitolo, packaging converter Detpak, and Coles launched a kerbside recyclable paper bag for fresh potatoes.
(Image: Detpak)

The company is also involved in sustainability and food waste initiatives. In June last year, Mitolo, packaging converter Detpak, and Coles launched a kerbside recyclable paper bag for fresh potatoes.

The bag was three years in the making and is used for Mitolo’s premium Gourmandine potatoes. The paper bag is manufactured and flexo printed with water-based inks by Detpak in South Australia. The material is then supplied as rewind to Mitolo for inline form, fill, and seal.

Mitolo said, “This bag may sound like a simple solution, but it has taken immense work to ensure there is absolutely no compromise to the quality of the potatoes while allowing us to achieve the sustainability outcome we were seeking.

“We had to consider everything from lux lighting levels in the supermarket through to breathing holes that don’t tear, new sealing solutions, bag strength and more.”

At the 2024 APPMA Awards, Detpak won the Packaging Design Innovation Award for the bag, which also reduced plastic usage by 64 per cent – the equivalent of 8.2 tonnes less plastic a year.

Mitolo Family Farms has been named the 2023 Overall Trade Partner of the Year.
Mitolo Family Farms has been named Woolies'
2023 Overall Trade Partner of the Year.
(Image: Woolworths)

And at the end of last year, Mitolo was awarded the Woolworths 2023 Overall Trade Partner of the Year and the Fruit and Veg Trade Partner of the Year.

“We have always been at the forefront of our industry and a desire to innovate seems to be something of a family trait,” said Mitolo.

“Quality has always been at the heart of this approach though, and nothing makes us happier than the thought of families all over the country enjoying delicious spuds when they sit down to eat together.”

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