Victorian brushed potato growers are losing their battle against sandy soil spuds from South Australia

Potato farmers in south-east Victoria (Australia) are missing out on profits as potatoes lie in paddocks, waiting for demand to pick up so they can be harvested.

Strong competition from washed potatoes coming out of South Australia and a general drop in consumer interest for Gippsland's brushed potatoes have left farmers without a market for this year's crop.

Potato farmer Stuart Jennings from Thorpdale in south Gippsland should be a quarter of the way through this year's harvest.

At this time of the year he would usually be selling 40 tonnes of potatoes a day. This year Mr Jennings said he is lucky to be selling 40 tonnes a week.

Sluggish demand for brushed potatoes is putting pressure on growers to accept low prices, only marginally above the cost of production.

"There are a lot of cheap washed spuds going into the supermarket at the moment and that's what we are competing against," he said.

"We're talking about selling stuff only just above cost which is killing us slowly.

"We can't survive on making six cents a kilogram forever so something has to change."