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Prices of iceberg lettuce and other vegetables recently skyrocketed in Australia after flooding in NSW and Queensland destroyed crops.
The devastation led to empty shelves in supermarkets, lettuce prices peaked at $12 per head, and fast food stores like KFC and Subway resorted to substituting lettuce for cabbage in their sandwiches.
However, months later, many vegetables are now expected to drop back to their regular prices.
Speaking to the ABC, Mulgowie Yowie Salads director Shannon Moss explains that prices have remained high for so long because farmers essentially had to start from scratch in the wake of the floods.
“You have to remember a seedling in a nursery takes about four to six weeks to grow, then it’s another eight weeks in the ground to grow lettuce,” he said.
"So you’re looking at three to four months to grow any kind of lettuce.”
Moss and others like him are finally recovering from the shortage.
They're now producing about 30,000 cos lettuces a week, which get sent out to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Despite the good news, Toowoomba-based greengrocer Bevan Betros advised that the prices won’t come down immediately.
“I don’t think they’ll get much cheaper just for the next week or two,” he told the ABC.
“They’ll get back down as the warm weather comes on, as we get into spring.
"We should be getting down under $2 again, hopefully in September.”
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