AUSVEG is urging all Australians to keep the nation’s vegetable growers front-of-mind, as an industry which provides 98% of Australia’s fresh vegetables continues to face ongoing uncertainty, and unprecedented cost pressures.

Australian vegetable growers work 52 weeks of the year to grow, harvest and supply 10,000 tonnes of fresh vegetables for consumers each day, says the organisation, but surging fuel, freight and fertiliser prices mean their financial viability is fragile, as many growers are unable to pass on additional costs.

In a statement ahead of Easter, AUSVEG CEO Michael Coote said: “As Australians sit down to Easter meals with friends, families and loved ones, we encourage every Aussie to consider where the food on their plates has come from, and spare a thought for the nation’s vegetable growers, working tirelessly through extreme uncertainty, surging production costs, and critical input shortages to make meals like these possible.

“Major and continuing concerns over cost, supply and availability of critical farm inputs like fertiliser fuel and freight, which have also flowed through to cost surges and new surcharges affecting every aspect of growers’ businesses, have already led to vegetable producers adjusting their plans and planting schedules, and are continuing to threaten their future viability.

“These issues won’t magically disappear after the Easter break, and it remains critical that all Australian vegetable growers receive assurances from their customers that they will receive viable farmgate prices for their produce, and assurances from the government that they will be prioritised for critical farm inputs like fuel, fertiliser and freight.”

Assurances needed

Mr Coote noted that AUSVEG has met with the major retailers, and the Food and Grocery Code Supervisor, to emphasise that all fresh produce buyers have an obligation to consider “genuine, evidence-based price increase requests from growers in good faith”. AUSVEG is also continuing to engage at the highest levels of government daily to highlight the urgent need to give growers greater certainty that they will be prioritised for access to critical inputs as an essential sector, Mr Coote added.

“Without these assurances, as well as action on the longer term, system-wide issues that have increasingly threatened vegetable grower viability over recent years, the supply and availability of critical, safe, fresh Australian vegetables will decline,” he said.

“As cost-of-living pressures continue to flow through from the Middle East conflict, we will continue to see a worsening of the silent epidemic that has resulted in more and more cheap, imported frozen and processed vegetables increasingly make its way from supermarket shelves into Australian fridges, freezers and pantries, at the expense of Australian growers and future food manufacturing capacity.

“We are already seeing how detrimental it is to Australia’s national security when we rely so heavily on overseas inputs such as fertiliser and fuel – so are we prepared to lose Australian food production systems to overseas as well? If we cannot maintain food production and processing systems here in Australia, this will only increase our reliance on imports, and increasingly vulnerable international supply chains.”