Fresh potato supplies are low in in Tasmania's supermarkets. One major grower was forced to temporarily halt harvesting as it was too wet to get the tractors onto the paddocks.
Daly Potatoes business manager Ruby Daly: "We cannot harvest anything at the moment, we cannot get supply to supermarkets. Normally we are packing and washing potatoes for the major supermarkets 52 weeks of the year, but this year we just haven't been able to do it."
Ms Daly said the past 12 months had been the hardest the business had faced in at least a decade. Her business is sending out small amounts when it can, but shelves in supermarkets across Tasmania are not really well- stocked.
"All of our potatoes are grown in Tasmania only. When you see those gaps, that's because our farmers can't get them to you," Ms Daly said. The Dalys have lost more than 2,000 tons of potatoes and seed to the wet this year, with many rotting in the wet ground.
Tasmania's potato chip processors in the state's north and their growers are feeling nervous about the continuing wet conditions; farmers growing for big companies Simplot and McCains have about two weeks left to plant if they want good harvests next year.
Source: abc.net.au