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A [poor / poverty] potato harvest in Europe this summer could mean French fries are up to three centimeters shorter than [usually / usual] . The poor harvest is because [for / of] the very hot summer Europe had. There were record hot temperatures in many countries. The heatwave caused a [slack / lack] of rain, which meant farmers produced a lot [fewer / few] potatoes than they normally do. Pierre Lebrun, a spokesman from a potato growers’ [association / associating] in Belgium, said farmers grew 25 per cent fewer potatoes [than / that] normal. The [affect / effect] of this is that potato prices are up and the [average / averages] size of potatoes is smaller. Mr Lebrun said: "Because the potatoes are smaller at the [moment / monument] , we will all be eating smaller chips."

Belgium is one country where the potato [shortening / shortage] is a big talking point. Fries are the [nation / national] dish in Belgium. The country has [over / overly] 5,000 eateries specializing in fries. Belgians love [them / their] fries so much that there is a campaign to [remain / rename] them "Belgian fries" instead of "French fries" because Belgians say the fry was invented [on / in] their country. Belgium is one of the largest [experts / exporters] of frozen fries in the world. It exports around 2.3 million tons of them every year. Mr Lebron explained why fries would be [shorter / shorten] . He said: "Generally, to have long fries, we work with potatoes with a [data / diameter] of more than 50mm. Then you get fries of 8 to 9 cm. This time, [as / was] the potatoes are smaller, the fries will be shorter."