Carrot oversupply has dropped prices of the vegetable to its lowest in seven years.
While it’s great for consumers, it’s not so great for growers.
Dinesh Bhana and his family have been growing carrots in Pukekohe for 30 years, producing about 60 hectares a year.
The town, just a little south of Auckland, is one of the country’s big carrot players alongside Ohakune.
"Kune does seven-odd months and then we get about five," Mr Bhana said.
Ohakune’s production of the crop usually stops at this time of the year, but this has not been the case this season.
Mr Bhana said the carrot oversupply was being driven by lots of factors.
"All to do with weather, and tonnages and consumption and lack of exports.
“We're [in Pukekohe] trying to get into the market, they're [in Ohakune] trying to get out of the market … it's a big problem, and so prices go down."
Carrot prices fell in September to a weighted average price of $1.79 per kilogram, according to Statistics New Zealand.
"Carrot prices are typically down at this time of the year, but prices were even lower in September than they have been for some time," Statistics New Zealand consumer prices manager Sarah Johnson said in a statement.
Watch Seven Sharp’s Carolyn Robinson dish the dirt on New Zealand’s most abundant vegetable and how consumer can make the most of the 'carrot-astrophe' in the video above.
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