By Henri Paget
ninemsn
More than 60,000 people from an online group have pledged to swarm supermarkets and buy out their supply of carrots in one day in a bizarre mission labeled "impossible" by vegetable growers.
The "On May 15th 2008, everybody needs to go out and panic buy CARROTS" Facebook group was created earlier this month in London and now attracts more than 10,000 members a day — many of them Australian.
"If everyone does this, we can make this global shortage of carrots happen," writes the group's creator, Freya Valentine.
The group is clearly intended as a joke — their page is littered with silly carrot jokes — but some members seem to take it seriously.
"I need to do this," said 20-year-old Sydney resident Anna Mackiewicz. "It would totally validate my unusual desire for carrots."
But the chairman of the Agricultural Produce Commission's Carrot Producers Committee, Figaro Natoli, said it would take more than one day of panic buying to cause a global carrot shortage.
"It would take all the products off the shelf if that's what they wanted," said Mr Natoli, whose board oversees research and development into carrot-growing in Western Australia.
"But the next day it would be back to business as usual.
"To have any level of impact would cost you a mountain of money and would take more than one day."
Local members of the carrot-buying crusade will find it exceptionally hard to cause a shortage in supply during May, when Australian growers begin winter production.
"Usually the level of production is higher at that time of year because of the demand," said Mr Natoli.
Although a supply shortage is unlikely, some may find themselves faced with a carrot clean-up crisis come May 16.
"What will we actually do with the carrots?" writes Ms Valentine on the group's frequently-asked-questions section.
"My aunt said that on the 16th they should be … placed on different modes of public transport/at the cinema/in cafes etc."
The online group has spawned several offshoot groups, including one urging Facebook members not to panic buy carrots.
"Don't add to world hunger!" the group's message reads, before condemning the carrot-buying scheme as an attempt to deprive the world of "vital vitamins".
That group has just four members.
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