Pickled Barnaby: Beetroot shortage everywhere but Braddon

While supermarket shelves remain empty of canned beetroot, there was enough supply in the national capital this week to make quite a display at the Barnaby Joyce chalk drawing on Lonsdale Street, scene of the National MP's filmed drunken phone call on February 7.

While initially only one can of beetroot was placed at the site, it was gradually accompanied by more and more, depleting the already scarce supply of the canned stuff in supermarkets.

The often red-faced Barnaby was dubbed by his political enemies, rather indelicately, as the "Beetrooter" in the wake of his affair with his then staffer, now wife Vikki Campion.

But by Tuesday the cans of beetroot were gone, and the chalk drawing updated to include the Member for New England's trademark Akubra.

Barnaby blamed a combination of alcohol and prescription drugs for the situation which led to him being filmed lying on on the Lonsdale Street footpath, not far from Waves car wash, mumbling profanities into his mobile phone after a night out.

But while the cans of beetroot have added to the spectacle of a truly pickled Barnaby, the beetroot shortage is no laughing matter for shoppers who can't find it in the supermarket or whack it on a salad sanger.

Coles and Woolworths on Tuesday blamed bad weather in growing areas for the scarcity of the canned vegetables.

"We know how much our customers enjoy this product and expect to see more stock on shelves over the coming months. The good news is that our supply of fresh beetroot has not been affected, with plenty available across our stores and online," a Coles spokesperson said.

With much of Australia's canned beetroot also imported, ALDI said it had worked "with its supply partners to return stock levels to normal availability. Customers should note regular availability of this product imminently, if they haven't already".

Woolworths said there were "varying supply levels of canned beetroot available across our store network".

"We're in close contact with our suppliers and we're working on contingency plans to minimise any potential disruption to our customers," a Woolworths spokesperson said.

"We encourage customers to be flexible if the products they would but usually purchase are not available."

But a spokesperson for peak vegetable industry group AUSVEG said the shortage had less to do with domestic growing conditions and more to do with international supply chains.

"As a net importer of tinned or processed vegetable products, Australia is often at the mercy of international supply chain factors when it comes to supply of some product lines," a spokesperson said.

"Where any shortages of tinned or processed vegetable products are experienced, this situation highlights the need to ensure Australia has sufficient food manufacturing and processing capability to meet domestic need.

"When it comes to domestic supply of fresh vegetable produce in Australia, a strength we have here is our national vegetable supply chain and an ability to produce most commodities year-round. That means any short-term reductions in supply from individual regions in Australia due to weather events or other factors are, in many cases, able to be filled by production from other regions."

No wonder Barnaby's beetroot did not last long on that Braddon footpath.