While asparagus might be as cheap as chips in the shops at the moment in the future prices may not be so good for consumers.

Asparagus Industry chairman George Turney says land prices are being pushed up in asparagus growing areas by dairying – meaning asparagus growers are selling their farms for high prices.

"The problem is that the dairy farmer obviously to make his business more economical. He has to keep buying the neighbour out and buy a bit more and a bit more. So he’s creating an extremely high price.

"So if I happen to be 65 years old and I’ve got an asparagus block on the side of my dairy farm I know I’m going to get a good lump of money - and that is the guy who will buy at pretty well any cost - he’ll pay way more than it’s worth just to expand his business a little bit, because he’s already built up the infrastructure for everything else."  

The high land prices are also making it tough for young growers to get into the industry, he says, and there are only 90 asparagus growers left now in New Zealand.

"We’re struggling to get those 30-year-old growers in once again because it’s hard for them to get in because the cost of land."

However, he says he still has confidence the industry will survive.

"We spent millions in the research and development to get what we have and some of are doing very nicely. I could sell 100 tonnes of asparagus today, they’re just crying out for it, the market is."