Potato growing that was once the small income backbone for family farm operations has been turned into a multi-million dollar enterprise by the Pye Group
When the Pye family made a leap of faith from New Zealand to set up a farm operation in South Australia’s Mallee region 35 years ago, to grow the humble spud, they didn’t know at the time it would transform them into one of Australia’s biggest names in horticulture.
Sprouting from 242 hectares (600-acres) leased at Parilla east of Adelaide in 1990, the Pye Group now spans 55,000 hectares, employs over 500 people, and includes a state-of-the-art $45 million potato packing facility.
Their produce, including the groundbreaking Spud Lite low-carb variety, is supplied to all three major supermarkets and to parts of Southeast Asia.
For third-generation farmer and General Manager, Renee Pye, the essence behind it all is “think big and keep it simple”.
“I love growing produce because it’s something that we’ve done as a family for generations,” Renee enthused.
“We’re always keen to adopt new technology because it helps us run more efficiently and understand more as a farming operation.”
Tradition meets innovation
Another Pye family tradition they brought from New Zealand was the use of John Deere machinery, which for the past 35 years has been supplied by the nearby dealership at Pinnaroo SA.
A fleet of around 120 John Deere machines includes 30 tractors from the 6 Series, equipped with precision agriculture technology. Innovations like AutoTrac, JDLink and John Deere Operations Center have become an integral part of daily operations.
“Ops Center has been great for our business,” Renee expounded.
“I remember as a kid when the tractors were all manual, but now there are screens that deliver so much excellent information and data, from planting rates or how many hectares we’ve covered, to the location of any tractor on the farms.
“It’s reassuring to have the Emmetts dealership close by so that if there is a breakdown at a crucial time, we’ve got parts in stock. But the fact that we have John Deere tractors from all eras still working around the farm shows their reliability.”
Emmetts’ integrated solution training and product specialist, Mark Trowbridge, said the connectivity of John Deere machines is a major advantage for the Pye Group’s highly intensive vegetable business.
“They have a lot of integrated machines, including the 6 Series tractors, and they’ve put JDLink into other machines to feed back into Ops Center so that they can get live data at all times, with updates every five seconds,” Mark explained.
“Management can keep track of any of those machines on a phone, tablet or computer, where they are and what they’re doing, so it’s a huge advantage when they’re running an operation around the clock, seven days a week.
“The Pyes have always been innovators. They’re a great family to work with, always pushing the boundaries and definitely leaders in the technology field, and we’re happy to help them achieve their end goal.”
For Martin de Winnaar, the person responsible for all ag management solutions at Parilla SA, technology is integral to the smooth running of the farms across two states.
“We have a lot of seasonal workers, so we do a lot of troubleshooting using Remote Display Access, which enables me to help them out remotely, because I can’t be in all places at once,” Martin confirmed.
“I’m always connected. If I’m not on my phone, I’m in the office. If I’m not in the office, I’ll be in my Ute, so I always have access within two minutes to a screen if I need to help them.
“Using paddock-deployed traceability has also given us years of data through Ops Center, from planting dates, varieties, harvest dates, spray chemicals, fertiliser application and cultivation. Everything is recorded and we can use a lot of those records for audit purposes as well,” Martin concluded.
Making equipment purchases convenient
Another benefit for the Pye Group’s operation is the convenience of John Deere Financial for the purchase of all their equipment, which Renee confirms they had been using for more than 20 years.
“We don’t need to go in and do all the checks and balances every single time we want to go through John Deere Financial for a new piece of equipment, because they have all the information,” Renee added.
“The speed of response has been a huge benefit to our business. My father is the one who signs off on those things and he travels a lot, so it’s great that he can just approve documents digitally on the iPad.”
With Renee’s brother Lachlan also involved in the growing and processing side of the business, the Pye family are likely to remain a familiar feature in the Parilla SA landscape.
“I have two young boys, and when they grow up, it would be great if they wanted to come back to the farm,” Renee suggests.
“I’m sure they’ll probably venture out and do some different things and then come back to the farm like my brother and I did.”
Watch the Pye family story on video access here.
