Supplies of fresh potatoes in Tasmania’s supermarkets are low, with a major grower forced to temporarily halt harvesting as weather conditions make it too wet to get tractors onto paddocks, as Fiona Breen, Laurissa Smith, and Tony Briscoe reports for ABC Rural.
“We cannot harvest anything at the moment, we cannot get supply to supermarkets,” Daly Potatoes business manager Ruby Daly said. Ms Daly said the past 12 months had been the hardest the business had faced in at least a decade.
Meanwhile, 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 McCain have about two weeks left to plant if they want good harvests next year.
“As a broad-brush comment, for every week after November 15 we tend to see a yield reduction of around 2.5 to 3 tonne to the hectare of potatoes,” agronomist Stuart Millwood said.
Source: ABC Rural. Read the full story here
Photo: Rain has forced the Dalys to temporarily suspend potato harvesting. Credit Ruby Daly via ABC Rural
