No one ever talks about it, but the supermarkets still have a lot of empty shelves.
Is it covid? Poor management causing workers to quit? Who knows. Lots of vegetables that I've never had trouble getting, are suddenly unavailable for the whole month... It's creepy.
This is the case even in hospitality. Our suppliers (in NSW) couldn't even get frozen seasoned potato wedges for a month. Ended up having to import from "the Pacific Northwest" in the USA for a hefty markup. Chips (or fries for the yanks) and hash browns have been harder to get too.
Climate change related crop failures are the reason but no-one really gives a shit.
Okay being short of potatoes is legitimately scary. How do you end up short of potatoes?
Potatoes aren't native to Australia so first and foremost the environment isn't suited sometimes.
Secondly capital plays a role. They're frozen then processes, and chips (i.e. french fries) are in higher demand so what surviving crops are turned into those (the ones that don't hit the supermarkets anyway). It wasnt so much an actual shortage as a variety shortage. There was a lack of pre packaged mashed potatoes, hash browns and seasoned wedges. The higher demand was more profitable but that didn't stop people from asking "it's made from the same plant how do have chips but not wedges/hash browns/etc"
Edit: the chip (fries) becoming harder to get was due to a coinciding local tourist event that tripled this town's population for a weekend
:ira:
floods?
Rice gang stays winning.