An innovative mind and the persistence to bring new ideas to fruition were at the core of David Ernest Montgomery's character and to the way he would change the course of the world's seed potato industry - a pursuit that would remain a passion until his death on November 17, 2019, aged 82.
His ambition would see him awarded a Member of the Order of Australia on September 12, 2013, as well as in 2006 being the first Australian to receive the Industry Recognitiion Award at the World Potato Congress in Idaho, US.
Such were his achievements, that in 2007, BRW magazine published an article focussing on little-known Australian companies that had gone global, leading with his company Technico.
"He established subsidaries in China and India, negotiated licensing agreements, developed and refined the manufacturing technology, raised capital, liased with governments and developed partner relationships with multinational companies all in one year," the article reported.
As the third of four children, he was born at Bega on November 21, 1936, to parents James, a civil engineer surveyor, and Mary, who together would later move the family to Mossman, Sydney, following James' work.
It was in Sydney where David and his two brothers and their elder sister would spend their teenage years - the boys (including Hugh and Reg) attending The Scots School, and Linda (McElroy), PLC.
His younger brother Reg's (now at Launceston, Tasmania) recollection of David's academic performance was: "he got there, but I don't think the road was easy".
In 1953 he would enroll at Hawkesbury Agricultural College, whereby upon his completion in 1955 he would be armed with a Diploma in Agriculture, paving the way for a productive and ambitous career.
Fresh out of Hawkesbury, in 1956 he moved to Papua New Guinea as an officer in tropical agriculture (also known as a Didiman) with the Agriculture Stock and Fisheries during the Australian Government's 60-year administration of the now decolonised nation.
Vegetable crops and improving the local population's health were a focus, but he would also spend much time in the PNG scrub, a big part of the Didiman's role being patrol duties, taking them away for up to a week at a time.
The Didiman had in their equipment portable transistor radios, and it was while on patrol he would learn the news of his older brother Hugh's death at age 23, having gone down in fog at Wingello during light aircraft Army training.
By then, David had already met his wife-to-be, Gillian Marks, of the Marks family of "Waratah", Binda, having met in 1955 while he was still at Hawkesbury.
Through the ensuing six years as he also completed national service and relocated to PNG, they would court via letter, the two eventually marrying in 1961 at the The Scots School chapel.
His new bride would join him in the northern colony, where in 1963 and '64 their first two children, Scott and Mark, were born.
Their third child, Jenni, arrived in 1967, a year after they returned to Australia and by which time they had also moved onto their own farm, "Kimbe", at Grabben Gullen, named after Kimbe Bay, their home in PNG.
On "Kimbe" David would trade lambs, grow cattle and vegetables and it was here his big ideas would take root.
First though, he and Gillian bought Southern Tablelands Potatoes (STP), a packing facility in Crookwell part owned by the Gillespie family, who already had established packing and produce facilities in Sydney.
This allowed a close business relationship to flourish, whereby STP was able to, through the Gillespies, enter markets for fresh and chip potatoes.
STP would also align with Southern Districts Fruit at Goulburn, Woolworths' distributor for fruit and vegetables, and would open the door for STP as a major Woolworths potato supplier.
Meanwhile, David had landed a contract to grow cabbages for Kentucky Fried Chicken, and then also diversified into other vegetables such as lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, button squash, zucchini and leek, all for the fresh produce market through STP.
The KFC contract, in particular, was a long-standing arrangement, and with the concurrent expansion into a range of vegetables, the "P" in STP would soon become "Produce".
Long-time friend and fellow potato grower, David Carter, Crookwell, described him as: "hard, but also good at relating to people. He had an ability to strongly express his opinion but then still move on and get along with the other party".
However, it was his idea around seed potatoes, now marketed globally as Technituber, with which he would really make his mark.
In Australia alone, his new product, around which in 1995 David would form the company Technico, would cut the amount of seed potatoes needed to grow the average crop from 3.5t/ha down to 80kg/ha.
The implications for transport, storage and export were enormous, and the technique would allow control over disease and their size, and opened entry into overseas markets, including India and China, home for two large Technico hubs since the early 2000s supplying Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South East Asia, Russia and various locations in Central Africa.
Its customers include a range of brands, such as the PepsiCo-owned Frito-Lay (Lays and Smiths crisps) and McCain.
"David was an absolutely persistent guy but was an absolute gentleman. He never gave up and always had long term vision," said Technico director David McDonald.
This vision helped him meet scientist Peter Waterhouse, who brought to the table the techniques needed to develop David's idea and is with whom he formed Technico.
David needed a lab and Peter had one convenient to Crookwell at Paddy's River near Marulan, so between the two (and a horticultural research grant), they launched David's new idea.
Now with the ability to eliminate viruses and aphids, and to bring seed potato size down to somewhere akin to a marble, quarantine hurdles and logistics issues became a thing of the past.
By 2003, Technico had already attracted three major shareholders, allowing it to build a hub in China and then India and to grow its global reach to the point where it was time for the "farmer" from Crookwell to step back from the board.
And by 2006, despite a big push into new global markets with its crisps brands, PepsiCo now only made up 25-30 per cent of Technico's customer base, such was Technico's growth.
That same year, Indian behemoth, ITC, a branded packaged foods business, entered the snack foods market with supply chain infrastructure ready to roll, but a sudden realisation it didn't yet have the right quality and varieties of potato.
Technico was already supplying PepsiCo, so ITC bought out Technico and Technico now operates as a company under ITC, still supplying PepsiCo and its other customers.
David's idea had become the lynch pin for a multitude of global products and it was this (now realised) potential, according to David's BRW interview, that made it an easy decision to go offshore.
In addition to Technico, he was an executive director of the Crookwell Potato Association (1988-2009), then stepped into the role of public officer which he continued until his death; he was a founding member of the Horticultural Research and Development Corporation in 1988 and a director (1988-1993); was twice recognised by the Rotary Club of Crookwell, first in 1990 with a Vacation Service Award and then in 1994 with an Enterprise Award, both in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the potato industry, and on September 16, 2000, he was also recognised for his contribution to the development of PNG by its then Govenor General Sir Silas Atopare.
David was also involved in the formation of the Crookwell Potato Association in 1984 and in 2004 began work on Crookwell's Australian Rural Innovation Centre (now called The Australian Agriculture Centre).
Through all this, he balanced work and family.
"Some people in business ignore the family, but he didn't," David Carter said.
His son Mark's life was cut short in a motorcycle accident in 1983, at 19.
David is survived by his wife Gillian, eldest son, Scott, daughter Jenni, seven grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
-ANDREW NORRIS
