Fruit and vegetable prices spike fears, furious residents as flood crisis deepens

There are fears the cost of fruit and vegetables in Victoria will spike amid the state’s flood crisis as furious residents say they should have been warned sooner about risks.

Streets in the northern Victorian town of Shepparton are inundated with floodwaters. Picture: Facebook

Victoria’s fruit and vegetable growers have flagged sustained disruption to supply chains and an immediate spike in prices across much of the state following historic floods. 

Floodwaters have inflicted widespread damage across a series of orchards in Victoria’s northeast, in one of the state’s major horticultural districts, affecting peaches, tomatoes, pears and apples across the Goulburn Valley.

In the state’s northwest, flooding near Swan Hill also damaged broccoli and lettuce production at major vegetable farms in the Mallee, with growers already anticipating lower yields and supply disruptions.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said previous floods indicated there would be an immediate spike in fruit and vegetable prices across large parts of the state, but could not predict a percentage increase or for how long they would continue to fluctuate.

“We know there’s been, and continues to be, a lot of flood damage across orchards in the Goulburn Valley, focused around the Shepparton area, and this normally translates into an immediate price spike followed by a long period of uncertainty,” Ms Germano said.

“It’s very hard to get an accurate picture of what’s been impacted, but in the short term we know this will affect supply and demand and the logistics of moving produce to market.”

Australian Fresh Produce Alliance said the historic flood event would place fruit and vegetable producers under additional strain by exacerbating pre-existing constraints and shortages.

“We still don’t have an accurate picture of the key areas that have been affected, but we do know this event will likely impact preparation for the next crop,” the AFPA’s Michael Coote said. “Fruit and vegetable growers already have to deal with enormous input costs, including fuel, fertilisers, seeds and planting. This will just be another hammer blow.”

Industry insiders said Victoria’s beef production was not expected to be badly affected by the floods, with production more widespread and prices more tightly controlled by the market than fruit and vegetables.

Meanwhile, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced an inquiry into flooding along the Maribyrnong River following local fears a flood wall around Flemington Racecourse exacerbated the crisis, and fury they were not told to leave early enough after waters ultimately inundated 59 homes in the area.

“Melbourne Water will conduct a thorough review of this flood event and any impact that wall had,” he said.

Maribyrnong resident David Vink had about 20 volunteers help him remove rubbish and mud from his home on Sunday.

On Sunday, an army of volunteers, who called themselves “flood warriors”, helped shovel mud and remove hard rubbish from homes that were destroyed.

About 20 helped resident David Vink clear his home on Ensign St. Outside, hard rubbish was piled up to almost 2m high and mud filled the road.

“The water was coming up the street. I took my car out, it hadn’t quite got here but by the time I reversed out I was in water,” he said.

“I don’t even know these people (but) they are helping me.”

A few hundred metres away on The Esplanade, SES officer Marjukka Niemi said text alerts sent about 4am on Friday morning warning people to leave were too late.

“It ended up being a flash flood. Why that wasn’t alerted earlier, why they didn’t know … who knows,” she said. “They really need to look at … letting people know possible worst-case scenario. In this area they have to rely on a small crew of volunteers to door knock at 4 o’clock in the morning. Where (are) the sirens?”

Further down the street, Graeme Limpos’ house was spared. His neighbour – who didn’t want to be named – said “there is trouble in paradise”.

“(That) flood wall had a major effect. I am infuriated the wall is there.”