POTATO farmers in the region are suffering their worst season for decades as a result of climate change - and Jamie Oliver's campaign to discourage children from eating chips and crisps.

As a result there are fears several could quit the industry and opt to grow alternative crops.

Robin Bosomworth, one of 548 growers in North Yorkshire, and a member of the National Farmers' Union's horticulture and potato committee, said the biggest problem was mis-shapen potatoes, as a result of extreme heat and dry conditions in the early summer, followed by heavy rain in August and a re-start of the growing season in September.

Frozen food and French fry manufacturer McCain, in Scarborough, has told farmers that specifications for potatoes it buys from them under contract have tightened up.

"They want long, oval potatoes for supermarkets and fast-food restaurants with chips, but this year we have seen variable levels of moisture content in the potatoes caused by the extreme weather conditions."

Moisture levels had varied between 18 and 22 per cent in individual potatoes, which was no good to companies like McCain, or crisp manufacturers, said Mr Bosomworth, who farms at Thirsk.

But while farmers were not the sort of people who would give up growing potatoes after one bad year, Mr Bosomworth believed that a number could turn to growing oil-seed rape or grain, both of which have yielded higher income for farmers this year.