ASSURANCES about potato contracts have been given to worried growers in the region.

Thousands of tonnes of potatoes lie waterlogged in fields throughout Durham and North Yorkshire as many growers are forced to wait for lifting conditions to improve.

A meeting with the management of McCain's in Scarborough was quickly arranged following reports that the factory was buying in Dutch and German potatoes for between £15 and £35 a tonne, but on Thursday of last week the NFU regional potato and sugar beet committee was told the company wanted to continue working with local contract growers.

Mr Robert Tesseyman, who farms near Boroughbridge, organised the meeting with McCain. "They were very receptive to what we were saying and gave us certain guarantees," he said.

"The only reason the company was buying in some foreign stocks was to keep its lines going to meet its contracts." If it could not supply its own customers, it could lose that trade to foreign competitors.

"They gave us an undertaking that, provided the crop in the ground could be harvested, they would do their utmost to process it," said Mr Tesseyman.

Some potatoes being lifted are so waterlogged that they have gone brittle and shatter in the chippers. To overcome the problem the company has decided supplies will have to be conditioned before they can be made into chips.

They are looking for storage facilities where the potatoes can be conditioned for up to three weeks, when they should then be able to chip them.

"They made it very clear that, as long as the crop can be harvested and conditioned, they will honour their contracts," said Mr Tesseyman, who added that the company wanted its contract growers to keep in close touch throughout the season.

"They were very, very positive about us and will try to help wherever they can," he said. "We were very pleased with the meeting; they were open and honest with us."