A farmer has called on the big supermarkets to make a profit on fruit and vegetables and refuses to do business with them.
Shaun Jackson, 62, owner of Daintree Fresh in Lakeland, Far North Queensland, said he now exports most of his melons to Japan to avoid the Coles and Woolworths trade.
Mr Jackson, who has been growing melons on the Cape York Peninsula for the past seven years, said he no longer traded with the big supermarket chains because “I know what they are like”.
He has designed and sized his company in such a way that it allows him to go to the ‘good independents’.
Queensland farmer Shaun Jackson has refused to work with supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths
“I started growing some special melons and sent them to Japan, they loved them… Eighty percent of my produce now goes to Japan,” he said. news.com.au.
The 62-year-old warned Australian shoppers are facing a crisis as growers across the country exit the industry, predicting shortages and significant price increases.
“I guarantee people in Australia will run out of food,” he said.
He has spoken to “thousands of growers about their experiences” with supermarkets and “they are all too scared to say anything.”
He claimed that supermarkets are ‘keeping wholesale prices low’.
“The truth is that the ACCC long ago let two companies own our fuel, our food and our… [alcohol] and they have complete control,” he said.
‘They say there is competition, nonsense. Coles and Woolworths are moving their staff around [to each others’ stores] with a small notebook to write down the prices.
‘They manipulate the market. If you own 76 percent of the food supply, that’s a perfect excuse.”
Mr Jackson said he now sells melons to Japan instead of trading with Coles and Woolworths
Mr Jackson accused the supermarket giants of trying to ‘keep wholesale prices low’ (pictured)
A Woolworths spokesperson told news.com.au it was “difficult to answer” Mr Jackson’s claims “when we don’t actually have a relationship with this farmer”.
“It is not clear what experiences these claims are based on,” she said.
While a Coles spokesperson told the outlet there are ‘many factors that influence the price customers pay for fresh produce’.
‘As is the case with all fresh produce, the shelf price includes the price we pay to our suppliers and additional cost factors such as processing, transportation, labor, packaging and other costs associated with getting a product ready to go on the shelves. so that our customers can buy it. Enjoy,” they said.
Earlier this week, a Victorian farmer forced to abandon an 80-hectare courgette crop criticized the supermarket giants, saying they should cut the price of fruit and vegetables.
Ross Marsolino, 61, says consumers can only afford one or two zucchini instead of a kilo because of the high prices supermarkets sell them for, reducing demand for his products and making it almost impossible for the farmer to make a profit to make.
His farm, Natural Earth Produce in Shepparton in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, grows Roma, gourmet tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines.
‘If they were sold for €2.99 per kilo instead of €4.99 per kilo, everyone would buy courgettes. But there isn’t enough return, he said.
Victorian farmer Ross Marsolino (pictured) criticized the supermarket giants and said they should cut fruit and vegetable prices
He can no longer afford the costs of picking, packing and transporting vegetables if he cannot make a profit by selling them to major retailers.
“It pains me to walk away from an 80 hectare crop,” he told Ny Breaking Australia.
‘There is no disease on the crop; it is lush, it is growing.”
‘We are not charging the right price to keep the product moving and selling. Simply’.
Mr Marsolino said he was packing 1,600 boxes of courgettes a day instead of the usual 6,000 and is only two weeks into harvesting the 80 hectares.
“We are controlled by the price at which retailers sell our product, which determines whether we continue to sell the product or not,” he said.
‘This is what worries me; we should be able to serve the country with all the products we have here. Farmers are just trying to pay their bills.
‘The supermarkets must sell a fairer amount. Simply.”
The farmer has called on the government to set up a regulatory body to monitor retail prices and question supermarkets about any increases.
