On the edge of his crop on top of the Great Dividing Range, Matthew Gay pulls a purple-flowering pontiac potato plant from grey loamy soil to reveal an exceptional bounty.
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The Sydney catchment begins to the east of the Kialla district near Crookwell, and headwaters of the Lachlan River lie on the western side, where Mr Gay grows his potatoes on neighbours' blocks, which breaks up the soil and helps with crop rotations.
About 16 egg-sized tubers hang from the pontiac's tangle of fine roots, while more loose tubers sit in soil damp from an emphatic return of summer rain.
December [112mm] and January [138mm] rainfall has been well above Crookwell's historical averages of about 66mm, and follow the wettest summer on record in 2010/11, when 427mm was received, followed by another wet summer in 2011/12 when 293mm fell.
"We might be getting back to our summer rains because years ago records showed Crookwell had very good summer rains. It helped grow summer crops," Mr Gay said.
His records show 55mm fell in 1884 and a staggering 906mm fell the following January, yet in the same month in 1932 only 4 mm fell. During the recent 10-year drought so little rain fell farmers stopped putting in crops.
As well as the drought, competition from bigger growers whittled away producers. Mr Gay is one of only five farmers growing seed potatoes in Crookwell and is president of their growers group. Huge wind turbines and tree changers' homes are scattered across the rolling, lightly timbered hills where a century ago potatoes and hay were the main crops.
Mr Gay followed his father Tasman into potato fields, planting his first crop when he finished high school and later working at Robertson in the Southern Highlands where he learned about irrigation.
While Crookwell can't match the volume of other districts, its 980m altitude means disease-carrying insects are minimal, a big advantage for producing certified seed potatoes, which are harvested in autumn.
Mr Gay sells more than a tonne to nurseries who supply Canberra's backyard growers and the rest to farmers growing for the table. Supermarkets influence the big producers, such as those in South Australia who look to Crookwell for quality seed.
"It's all about appearance," Mr Gay said. "Everybody has their own ideas on washed potatoes or loose potatoes or brushed potatoes. Coles and Woolies think if something looks good people are going to buy it.
"My personal opinion is it has to taste good for people to buy it, that's why we are sticking to traditional lines of potatoes. We grow pontiac, sebago and kennebec."
For the past seven years the Crookwell growers have been refining a quality assurance program. Pooling resources allows them to access the latest information on technology. They also rely on the district's older growers to mentor the younger ones.
