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The Great Roots story started as a distribution point for tomatoes grown on the property in Tamworth. At that stage the trading entity was called One of the channels of distribution was to restaurants and cafes and also to the evolving Farmers' Markets that were springing up in most regions of Sydney and rural NSW. Whilst attending one of these markets (Warwick Farm which was then run by The NSW Farmers Federation), I met a bloke running a stand next to mine. He turned out to be Graham Liney (Willowvale Potatoes). I was fascinated with the wide choice of potatoes that he had. I just thought that a spud was spud!
Graham asked me to follow up Una's Cafe in the eastern suburbs that was trying to get hold of a style of potato that they could use for rösti. Graham was too far away from Sydney to handle a delivery system to restaurants so he asked me to follow them up. So I did. The potato was Nicola and within a matter of weeks I was delivering over a tonne of potatoes (and tomatoes to match) each week. Well the word was out. If you wanted yellow flesh potatoes then go to Growersdirect! And the restaurant list grew; as did the produce range that came from other growers at the Warwick Farm market. In January 2007, Shane Roberts took over the restaurant providoring under the banner Growersdirect2U. That left me time to develop potato knowledge. With Graham's guidance I took on three varieties that Saatzucht-Lange (a potato breeding farm) from Germany had sent to Graham some years before. These varieties are Serafina, Bernadette and Jacqueline. Soon these yellow-flesh potatoes will be a feature as washed potatoes at selected retail outlets. Serafina is a salad potato displaying firm cooking characteristics; Bernadette is an all-purpose potato and Jacqueline is a roasting or mashing potato. A new variety is a red skinned, yellow flesh variety that we have been trialling at WarwickFarm Trackside Markets in Sydney. This variety is Delphine and is proving highly successful. Growersdirect Pty Ltd retains Agronico Pty Ltd to act as their research laboratory to trial all varieties to determine optimum nutrient, soil type & water requrements, location and resistance to pests. Today, I operate Great Roots and Graham runs Willowvale Potatoes as branding for our yellow-flesh potato varieties servicing the needs of potato merchants and agents. As a piece of history, just about every new variety of potato that has been commercialised or registered in Australia over the last 25 years is Graham's doing. These varieties include Pink Fir Apple, Almera, all the Golden Wonder range, King Edward, Charlotte, Rosevale, Belle de Fontenay, Nicola, Desiree, Saxon, Carlingford, Saphire, Aura.... and the list goes on. Work we are doing with the University of Sydney has resulted in a range of suitable potatoes that can be eaten by diabetics and approved by the Glycemic Index Symbol Program. Keith Platt – August 2011
One new addition is the Great Roots "Pickled Onions with Attitude" a combination of Australia onions and chilli and spices. You just have try it! |
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Our other product lines are our pasta sauces, soups and cooking sauces. Besides the tomato soup, the Cajun cooking sauce and the tomato relish, we have 3 flavours in the pasta sauce range:- 
