Through his business, Peter Gwyn and Sons Quality Potatoes, Peter Gwyn has supplied potatoes in North Wales for over 30 years. But he is now seeing things that he has never experienced. The cost-of-living crisis has already seen rising bills for takeaway owners, but the unusually dry summer and wet winter has hit crops hard, and in the last eight weeks prices have drastically risen.
Gwyn: āThereās a massive shortage of potatoes because of the dry summer, this is where itās all come from. The dry summer last year. Weāre still using the old crops; we donāt go on the new crop till about July.ā
āItās usually the end of June but itās going to be late this year because they couldnāt plant in March, because it was too wet, and when they did plant we are still getting the frost, and it’s cold at night. Nothingās going right.ā
The result is a chain of price rises in the agricultural industry, and Peter thinks that some chip shops may not survive it. He is still hopeful, but warns: āThe potato prices should drop by the end of July or August, but if they donāt theyāre in trouble.ā
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Source: leaderlive.co.uk