Farmers accuse NSW supermarkets of price gouging amid flood disaster

Flooding in Sydney’s food growing areas will contribute to sky high veggie prices until Christmas, but struggling farmers will not see any of the extra cash.

Flooding in Sydney’s food growing areas will contribute to sky-high vegetable prices until Christmas, but struggling farmers will not see any of the extra cash.

NSW Farmers president James Jackson said the big supermarket chains were ­exploiting their grip on the supply chain to “gouge prices” and rip off farmers.

“We know some of those iceberg lettuces are being sold by farmers on a contract for less than $3 and they are being retailed for more than $10,” Mr Jackson said.

“It is price gouging. It is not illegal, but it is immoral.”

He said growers in the Nepean and Hawkesbury River catchments had been inundated, some for the fourth time this year, and the loss of their crops had contributed to a “perfect storm” for prices.

Supermarkets prices have increased and supply of fresh produce has reduced. Picture: Liam Beatty

Supplies of leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and bok choy will be hit, compounding the loss of supply from farmers in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, who were flooded earlier this year.

“Essentially, the supermarkets will drive up prices because there is no competition and therefore no consequence,” Mr Jackson said.

The price rises would be confined to Sydney.

An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission spokesman said its 2020 inquiry into perishable food had made several recommendations, including “measures to improve price transparency so that all participants in supply chains, including consumers, have much better information about prices and margins”.

A spokesman for Woolworths said: “The most our ­supermarkets have charged for iceberg lettuce this year is $6.90, and prices have already begun to fall again. We have never charged $12.”

He said while the floods would affect supply, “it is unlikely to exacerbate it because only a small amount of producers in the flood impacted areas supply to us”.

A Coles spokesman said the supermarket chain was working closely with farmers to restore supply.

“We are committed to continuing to build strong, multigenerational, collaborative partnerships with Australian farmers and producers, including long-term contracts.”

Ritchies IGA chief executive Fred Harrison told the Today show: “We will see the prices sitting higher for a more extended time. I think this is going to go all the way through to Christmas at least.”

Many of the suppliers affected sell direct to consumers, such as Galston persimmon grower Warren Waddell whose trees are under water.

“We lost 80 per cent of our income because of the groundwater left in the soil by the last two floods,” he said.

“Everyone on my property is working a second job.”

The majority of turf growers who supply almost half of the turf for landscaping, ovals and football stadiums in Australia are also inundated.

The 45 turf businesses currently under water are estimated to have lost $142 million in ruined turf and recovery costs alone.

Graeme Colless from Dad and Dave’s Turf in Pitt Town said: “It’s a shit fight because the government won’t increase the height of Warragamba Dam. That won’t stop it but it would lessen the impact.”