The man who almost single-handedly forced the West Australian Government to commit to reforming its potato market has revealed when his deep distrust of the industry regulator began.

Tony Galati admits he has a chip on his shoulder over what happened to his Sicilian-born father at the hands of the so-called "potato police".

Francesco Galati grew potatoes on a small block south of Perth soon after emigrating from Italy in the 1950s but he had his grower licence revoked for breaking the rules by taking a second job as a painter.

"I was probably about 10 years old and the frustration I saw in my dad because they didn't have the education and they were only a small family business and virtually to come in and take their licence off them because he had a second job, was so wrong," Mr Galati said.

Galati Brothers is now one of the biggest potato growers in WA.

The company has expanded into other fruit and vegetable lines, meat and eggs, with farms from Albany on the south coast up to Kununurra in the far north.

It also has the Spud Shed retail chain, attracting about 100,000 customers a week to six stores in the state.

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As figurehead of the company, Tony Galati has used his larger-than-life image to fight for the state's potato market to be deregulated.

Extensive television and newspaper advertising has helped him become one of the most recognisable figures in the west, known for his luxurious eyebrows and penchant for shorts, blue singlets and work boots in all weather.

In January this year, Mr Galati defied the Potato Marketing Corporation when it ordered him to dispose of his surplus.

"They were going prosecute me and I said bugger you," he said.

"They wanted me to feed the surplus to cattle like most of the other growers did. I says, 'well stuff you, I'll give 'em away to my customers'."

"We gave away nearly 400 tonne of potatoes and they still want to prosecute me for oversupplying."

Abolishing potato regulation 'long overdue'

WA's Potato Marketing Corporation has evolved from a 1946 Act of Parliament introduced after World War II to protect growers and ensure West Australians had a guaranteed supply of the staple vegetable.

It strictly monitors a quota system for the state's 80 spud growers, but also overseas marketing, research and development and access to new varieties.

This year when Premier Colin Barnett was negotiating for a greater share of the goods and services tax, Treasurer Joe Hockey said the state needed to reform its economy first, including abolishing potato regulation.

The WA Government has since announced it will open its potato market up after the next state election in March 2017.

There are six Spud Shed stores in WA. ( ABC News: Robert Koenig-Luck )

Agriculture Minister Ken Baston said the reform was long overdue, but the industry wanted time to assess the impacts of an open market and how it should work.

"It has, I guess, choked the industry in a sense of what they can do," Mr Baston said.

"They're producing some 50,000 tonnes of potatoes you know, that's what they've been doing for years and years and years, but if you look at South Australia, they're producing some 348,000 tonnes of potatoes, so I think it needs deregulating so they can actually branch out and build their businesses."

Mr Galati said he had spent millions of dollars in legal fees and lost business over two decades fighting for the reform and it could not come soon enough.

"It's price fixing, that's what it is, that's what it boils down to, it's illegal," he said.

Potato Marketing Corporation says industry will contract

The chairman of the Potato Marketing Corporation, Ron Edwards, said the reform was inevitable but was unlikely to affect the retail price of potatoes, which is about the same or cheaper than the rest of Australia.

Based on deregulated markets in other states, he predicted farm gate prices would drop and the industry would contract.

Mr Edwards said the corporation's biggest challenge until March 2017 would be keeping the quota system together as big players such as Mr Galati position themselves for the free market.

"What you really need to do is take a deep breath and wait for the framework change and not waste your time on lawyers and cases," he said.

"I don't like to see industry money go into lawyers and I don't think Tony Galati does."

Mr Galati said he would do his best to cooperate.

"I know they've probably got a bit of a grudge because they blame us for deregulation," he said.

"Probably they'll be out gunning for us, we've always stood our ground and if they want to challenge us, I've been fighting for a long time, I'll never stop fighting."