The Australian carrot market is flooded due a range of factors, including trading restrictions tells Alice Gorman from Kalfresh Vegetables, south-west of Brisbane.
She told optimum growing conditions this season had also contributed to the large crop yields.
"We're facing a problem that we haven't faced in the past 23 years. What we think is happening is that Russia has banned European imports, so then those growers are trying to sell carrots into export markets we may serve."
Growers said they needed to dispose of the carrots but also wanted to prevent waste. So they decided to let locals come pick the carrots for free rather then let them go to waste.
"We've put a lot of time and energy in the carrots and we don't want to waste good food so we're inviting families to pick their own carrots. We're calling it our carrot-astrophy day."
Ms Gorman urged Queenslanders to look out for locally grown carrots when shopping.
"What we're asking people is to choose Queensland carrots as they have low food miles and are sweet and delicious. We're trying to get something positive out of this and we think by showing people what we do we can turn a negative into a positive."
Source: abc.net.au
