The silver lining for Australian fruit and vegetable farmers

Despite industry-wide headwinds and struggles along the supply chain, the outlook feels positive for fruit and vegetable farmers heading into 2025.

It was a tale of David against Goliath when it came to horticulture this year, with fruit and vegetable farmers squaring up against supermarket giants, supply chain disruptions and a wholesale market dispute while continuing to produce high-quality food for Australians.

But following years of headwinds such as labour shortages, supply chain issues, and increased input costs, producers are reporting a more positive outlook for the 2025 season, thanks to easing worker pressures and an ideal weather forecast for stone fruit harvest.

At the time of print, stone fruit growers across NSW and Victoria were working to harvest summer fruit, with seasonal conditions and timely rainfall meaning some fruits have come into season slightly earlier than anticipated.

And with quality fruit being harvested, many growers have a positive outlook for prices coming into Christmas, with accessible labour also buoying sentiment.

A recent Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences report showed producers were experiencing easing labour pressures, with a 23 per cent drop in the number of producers having difficulty finding workers in 2022-23.

But the ongoing supermarket duopoly inquiry and a major rift between wholesale producers at the Melbourne Market – with tenants protesting a proposed rent hike that would see rents increase 100 per cent in the coming decade – highlight broader tensions between growers on farm and the commercial end of the supply chain, with some farmers contemplating stepping away from the sector entirely.

Pineapple grower John Steemson of Littabella Pines. Picture: Paul Beutel

For John and Linda Steemson of Littabella Pines, north of Bundaberg Queensland, volatility off-farm is just one part farming, and something farmers are increasingly resilient in the face of.

“It’s just what we’ve got to deal with. It’s the same old story, you’ve got to be in it to win it,” Mr Steemson said.

“People talk about the different aspects of the market and the supply chain, the volatility … I’ve been involved in horticulture for nearly 50 years and I don’t think anything much has changed.”