Qld Food Farmers Commissioner levels bombshell claims at Coles, Woolworths

Supermarket giants are allegedly hiding behind claims of poor growing conditions to cover up failed attempts at squeezing farmers to sell their goods at low prices.

A Coles spokesman denied the company engaged in deceptive conduct.

Supermarket giants are allegedly hiding behind claims of poor growing conditions to cover up failed attempts at squeezing farmers to sell their goods at low prices.

Queensland’s Food Farmers Commissioner Charles Burke made the shocking claim during a parliamentary briefing, where he alleged supermarket managers were encouraged to undercut the farmer to boost their corporation’s bottom line.

Farmers who refused to give in to supermarket giants or spoke out about buying practices also risked being punished and “put on holiday” for more than a year.

Mr Burke, in an update to a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, said in one instance a grower was told not to box his vegetables by his merchant agent as he wouldn’t be able to make his money back.

“Three days later, he was in that particular retail outlet in his hometown, and there was a sign where that product should normally be (stating) ‘due to climatic conditions in the growing regions of this particular product, we are unable to supply this, at the moment we are working closely with our supplier’,” Mr Burke said.

“I can quote it word for word, that sort of stuff’s going on.

“People, consumers, would not take too kindly to that if they knew the full story.”

A Coles spokesman denied the company engaged in such practices, as it considered long-term relationships with suppliers central to its success.

A Woolworths spokesman said the practices described had no place in the company’s business.

“We work collaboratively with our suppliers to meet the needs of our customers week after week,” the spokesman said.

“We are proud to have long-term partnerships with many of our suppliers.”

Food Farmers Commissioner Charles Burke

Mr Burke, a former AgForce chief executive, became the state’s inaugural food farmer’s commissioner last September as part of the then state Labor government’s bid to make prices fairer at checkout.

A key part of his role is providing the public with price transparency on how much farmers are paid versus what consumers are paying at the checkout.

Mr Burke said supermarkets denied the alleged predatory practices and claimed there was a disconnect between executive management and those actually affecting the negotiations.

A new portal will be established on the recently created food farmers commissioner’s website to allow farmers to anonymously post their concerns about supermarket giants in a bid to bolster their negotiation powers.

It will be collated into data to be brought to supermarket giants which had expressed interest in working with the commissioner who sought to drive systematic change in food supply.

Mr Burke was apprehensive about regulations that would limit supermarkets’ profit margins, believing it would restrict a free market and incentives to supply goods during shortages.

Committee member and Member for Mirani Glen Kelly, a Rockhampton grazier, said he was concerned with the time it took for producers to negotiate prices.

He said these were all issues raised by last year’s supermarkets inquiry.

“These big boys, they like bossing us little fellas around, but without the little fellas, the big boys don’t always have their gracious way, because as I see it … they still rely on us little fellas to get them through most of the time,” he said.

Originally published as Qld Food Farmers Commissioner levels bombshell claims at Coles, Woolworths