Covid Victoria: Strawberry growers face big losses as harvest approaches

Strawberry growers are feeling “lost” at what to do as harvest approaches and Melbourne’s restaurants and cafes remain closed.

Yarra Valley Strawberries owner Bruno De Ingeniis is worried he may have to plough in his crop if the strawberry market doesn’t improve. PicturE: Zoe Phillips

Victorian strawberry growers say they face ploughing their crops back into the ground as Melbourne cafes and restaurants remain closed just weeks out from October’s harvest.

Yarra Valley Strawberries owner Bruno De Ingeniis, who employs 30 pickers and packers to manage his 30 acres of strawberries, said he felt “lost” and “didn’t know what to do” as harvest approached with few buyers interested in his crop.

“We spent $200,000 planting strawberries, which we do every year,” he said. “We’ve never gone backwards. But now we are.”

In a normal year, about 35 per cent of Mr De Ingeniis’ income comes from sales to agents who on sell to restaurants and cafes, he said, but this year those agents are “not interested”.

“We’ve learned the restaurant trade and the cafes are a big part of our market. A huge part. We didn’t realise until we lost it,” he said.

In the past, his other regular buyers were cake shops, ice cream shops and road side traders, but “I haven’t talked to them for 12 months”, he said.

Meanwhile, packaging costs and wages have increased, hitting Mr De Ingeniis’ bottom line.

“In the last month, we’ve been told (the cost of) our boxes that we put strawberries in have gone up. Our pallets have gone up 20 per cent. Plants that we normally grow every year gone up another $30 per 1000. Wages have gone up.

“Everything is going up around us. But as farmers, we can’t say to our customers, we need 10 or 15 per cent more. It doesn’t work that way. The market dictates the price.”

Yarra Valley Strawberries owner Bruno De Ingeniis. Picture: Zoe Phillips

As harvest approached, Mr De Ingeniis said his hopes rested on high strawberry prices at the start of the Victorian season, and the possibility of selling to markets in Sydney if they opened in time.

“We can’t sustain (going financially backwards) for two or three months. We can’t do it. If (turnover) doesn’t improve in that time, I’ll plough in my crop. I can’t do much about it. It’s out of our hands,” he said.

He urged customers to support strawberry farmers by buying a punnet this year.

“Strawberries are good for you. They are full of vitamin C. They’re the sort of things that we need at the moment,” he said.

Victoria hosts about 100 strawberry farms, with the majority in the Yarra Valley.

A growing number of farms in the region, including John Stewart’s Jay Berries, have offered the increasingly popular pick-your-own berry service in recent years, but question marks hang over the season this year.

“Even when lockdown ends, we’ll have to think about how we’re going to handle whatever restrictions are in place,” Mr Stewart said.

Mr Stewart, who employs two to three staff during harvest, said he was considering offering home berry deliveries and sales to schools for fundraisers this year.

“It’s better than dumping the fruit because you have to pick (strawberries) once they get ripe,” he said. “Otherwise they send the rest of the crop off. You have to get the fruit out of the paddock.”