A ban on imports of fresh potatoes into Tasmania may be contributing to the spuds shortage sweeping the state, but farmers are adamant that the restrictions must stay in place to keep the Tassie crop free of mainland diseases.
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With Christmas just around the corner, the Sunday roast staple has been missing from supermarket shelves in recent weeks, after severe rainfall and floods damaged crops and delayed harvests statewide.
A spokesperson for Woolworths said all their fresh potatoes sold in Tasmania are sourced from local suppliers, but rain had disrupted supplies recently.
"While our stores continue to receive fresh locally grown potatoes every week, the volumes are much lower than normal," she said.
"We're in close contact with our local growers to understand the current situation and when they expect availability to improve."
At Coles, a spokesperson said: "We are currently experiencing short-term supply challenges on some Tasmanian grown potatoes. We are working closely with our growers to get more spuds on our shelves as soon as possible."
On the mainland, potato supplies are sourced from various regions and have not been interrupted to the same degree - unlike in Tasmania.
At Daly Potato Farm in the south of the state, torrential rains in the Autumn ruined over 2000 tonnes of the crop, while on the North West coast, continuous rainfall has made planting difficult, said Sassafras farmer Scott Rockliff.
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"I've never seen anything like it, I've planted spuds for thirty-five years I suppose, and in all those years I've never been this late in planting due to continual wet weather," he said.
Allowing mainland potatoes into the state to ease the shortage wasn't a good idea either, he said.
"The reason the ban's there is to protect our potato industry from diseases that we don't want here," he said.
According to Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association vegetable council chairman, Nathan Richardson, the wet weather has hit both the end of last season and the start of the new one.
But there is good news, though.
"We are only weeks away from having good supply of fresh market potatoes again, but we just need some good weather to finish off those early crops."
"There's no issue about having the good old Tassie spud on the Christmas table with some butter and pepper and cheese and whatever else you like over it."
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