Why veggie prices remain high
An Australian grower and head of the nation’s peak vegetable industry body has spoken out on the rising costs of food across the country.
AUSVEG chair and vegetable grower Bill Bulmer told NCA NewsWire that consumers needed to get used to paying “that little bit more” in order to avoid the importation of frozen products “across the board”.
“We don‘t want to get to the stage where our shelves are bare of fresh produce at certain times of the year and we’re relying on imported products,” he said.
The Victorian farmer said skyrocketing production costs, world pressures and mother nature were all playing “a massive part” in the soaring prices for vegetables in the past four months.
“People are going to have to realise there has to be an increase in the price of fruit and veg across the board.” he said.
“We don‘t want people paying six or $8 for a lettuce but people might have to get used to paying three or $3.50 for lettuce.”
Mr Bulmer said cost pressures on growers had been accumulating for “quite a few years”, with a lot of businesses just “hanging in there”.
Mr Bulmer said consumers needed to “step back a little bit and go, ‘OK, why are we paying six to $10 a lettuce?’”
He said educating the public on where their money was going would ensure transparency across the industry.
Image: Getty