Uncertainty remains for Thorpdale potato growers
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Gippsland potato growers say they are facing increasing uncertainty about whether they will be able to sell their crops this year.
It has been more than a month since the quarantine pest, potato cyst nematode, was found on a property at Thorpdale.
The Department of Primary Industries has been working to remove a halt on interstate trading of potatoes from the region.
But potato grower Jenni Blackshaw says farmers have now had to start planting, and with harvesting not far away, time is running out.
"We've got three small children, so you don't know what the future's going to hold, whether we'll be able to sell our potatoes this year, or whether they'll be left here somewhere, so very much the unknown," she said.
"It plays an incredible amount on your mind, there's been lots of sleepless nights, and lots of wondering, lots of what-ifs, lots of what if this happens, what sort of scenarios are going to play out."
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