A perfect storm of kumara growing conditions could see consumers pay record prices in New Zealand shops this year.
Harvesting machines and small teams of workers would usually have the entire crop tucked away by the end of April in the Dargaville and Ruawai districts, where the country's commercial crop is grown.
But waterlogged conditions mean that on a few large farms workers are trudging barefooted through mud to pick up dirt-caked clumps of kumara because mechanical harvesters can't be used.
Many farms had a late start to planting due to the cold, dry spring; then with seedlings finally in the ground in November and early December rather than up to two months earlier. Then, and needing moisture, they were hit with a very dry, hot summer.
With the district's final yield not yet tallied up, but which could be down 40 per cent on last year's bumper crop, the price is already $8 to $10 a kg in North Island supermarkets and higher in the South Island where transport costs hike it up.
That is the highest price Locky Wilson, Delta Produce general manager, has seen in 19 years in the business.
