Breaking News English

Potato chip [lovers / loves] in New Zealand could be in for a big shock. New Zealand is facing a possible potato [shorter / shortage] in the next few months. This means there could be a [luck / lack] of potato chips (crisps in British English) until next year. Newspapers are [calling / called] this situation the "chipocalypse". They [combed / combined] the words "chip" and "apocalypse" to make this new word. A possible chipocalypse is because of a very wet [wintery / winter] in New Zealand. This has hit potato [growers / grows] . In some areas, a third of the potato crop has been [loss / lost] . The wet weather has [particularly / particular] hit the potatoes that are used to make potato chips. This means makers will make fewer potato chips and [price / prices] for potato chips will be higher.

A spokesman for New Zealand potato farmers told the Radio Live NZ news station [about / around] the problem. Chris Claridge, [head / face] of Potatoes New Zealand, said: "It [started / starting] raining in March, and it just [simply / simple] hasn't stopped. We've had the [all / entire] year's worth of rainfall already, so the rainfall is 25 per cent [above / higher] average and while that might not sound like a lot what it means is it's continuous, so the soils never get a chance to [dry / dried] out." He added: "Potatoes are actually alive. They need to [breathe / breath] , and so effectively they drown, and then they start to [rot / lot] because they're submerged in water." A major supermarket chain said: "We are working closely with our suppliers to [manage / manager] supply as much as possible."