It is harvest time in Bowen, near Queensland’s Whitsundays, and capsicums, tomatoes, corn and eggplants are just a few of the vegetables being picked.
Key points:
- Ideal conditions have contributed to a glut in one of Australia’s largest winter vegetable growing regions
- Growers have criticised high prices in supermarkets, where they should be falling due to oversupply
- Onfarm vegetable donations to foodbanks have dropped due to rising freight costs
Ideal conditions in one of Australia’s biggest winter vegetable growing regions this year have seen the volume of produce skyrocket.
“The market this year is so terrible, because everything’s growing so well and there’s plenty of it,” Bowen Gumlu Growers Association president Carl Walker said.
The vegetable glut has led to an oversupply which, given the basic law of supply and demand, should lead to cheaper veggies in the supermarket.
“Last year it [high cost of vegetables] was because we had bad weather conditions, and we were down production-wise by 30 to 40 per cent,” Mr Walker said.
“This year there’s no excuse for things being expensive because we’re getting less than cost of production. At the moment I’m losing money everyday I pick.”
Who’s to blame?
A farmer himself, Mr Walker said growers needed to take some accountability for the significant oversupply.
“Everyone forgets in Australia, we have 26 million people, we already grow food for 60 to 80 million people,” he said.
“So to expand this year, when we knew economically it was going to be tough, is a fool’s errand.
“You are better off consolidating and actually being here next year.
“Traditionally, when times are tough, the first thing people cut out of their diet is fresh fruit and veggies, which is quite insane.”
Mr Walker grew fewer vegetables, this year knowing demand would be low due to the rise in cost of living.
But many others grew more.
“Big producers are being told it [vegetables] has to be perfect so they’re growing more, so they get more perfect quantities, and the stuff that’s not perfect is getting thrown away,” Mr Walker said.
“So, you’re getting more and more waste.”
But he said the blame should not just fall on growers.
“The consumers need to start asking why there’s a three and 400 per cent mark-up on some products,” Mr Walker said.
“It’s very frustrating for us as farmers when we’re getting $2 a kilo for our product, which is all we are getting now, but you go to the big supermarkets, and they have done a 100 per cent mark-up.”
Woolworths said the company drew on supply chains from across the country to offer customers more consistent availability.
“Right now, our vegetable range is actually in deflation, with significantly lower prices in-store than this time last year thanks to better growing conditions,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Coles said its prices took into consideration the cost of freight, distribution, store and team member costs.
“We source from some amazing growers in the Bowen and Gumlu region in key categories including … capsicums, field tomatoes, beans and corn and have seen significant volume growth across each of these categories which enables us to offer our customers the best quality vegetables at the best price,” they said.
‘Killing the industry’
Organic grower and agronomist Jessica Volker also farms in Bowen and, like Mr Walker, said she would like to be paid fairly.
“I would really love to see a minimum price put on products, that it can’t go below the cost of production,” she said.
“It is killing the industry.”
Ms Volker said the situation was complex and affected growers across Australia.
“It’s a bit sad because you’ve spent a lot of time growing this crop,” she said.
“If a grower grows a little more, just on their farm it might not make a big deal, but if everyone does it, and uptake is reduced as well, you can’t really get out of it.”
‘Somebody else is getting rich’
Planting fewer vegetables has not been a silver bullet for Mr Walker.
“I’m going broke whilst somebody else is getting rich and that’s not a good place to be,” he said.
“If they were good corporate citizens, [the supermarkets] should be paying the grower at least the cost of production.
“They also should be putting a mark-up on it that reflects the need of the community and not just the shareholders, because this is a time when we all should be helping each other out.”
Solutions shrinking
In the past, a solution for a vegetable glut would be to donate produce not bound for the supermarkets.
But the collapse in March of Australia’s largest cold chain refrigeration logistics company, Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics, has resulted in high freight costs.
Many growers simply cannot afford to donate their excess produce.
A Foodbank Queensland spokesperson said the organisation was currently fundraising to help growers cover their freight costs.
“Foodbank Queensland presently fundraises to make sure we can cover freight costs to rescue more than 5 million kilograms of fresh fruit and vegetables from Queensland farms from being wasted each year,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Volker said sending produce to foodbanks was “great, but again, it’s such a small amount”.
“The stuff that we have got that can’t be sold is tonnes and tonnes,” she said.
For Mr Walker, it was not just the excess vegetables proving to be a financial burden.
“I’ve wasted water, wasted fertiliser, wasted plastic, wasted chemicals, wasted man-hours on something I’ll never pick, and it’s not sustainable for our planet long-term,” he said.
